THE 

LAND   OF    RIDDLES 

(RUSSIA    OF    TO-DAY) 

BY 

HUGO     G  A  N  Z 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN 
AND  EDITED  BY 

HERMAN     ROSENTHAL 


HARPER   &    BROTHERS    PUBLISHERS 

NEW     YORK     AND     LONDON 

I  904 


Copyright,  1904,  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 

All  rights  reserved. 

Published  November,  1904. 


&i^%r 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

Preface     v 

I.  Introduction i 

II.  Warsaw 8 

III.  Warsaw — Continued 17 

IV.  St.   Petersburg 24 

V.  St.   Petersburg — Continued 33 

VI.  Artist  and  Professor — Ilya  Ryepin       ...  44 

VII.  The  Hermitage 60 

VIII.  The   Hermitage — Continued 69 

IX.  The  Camorra — A  Talk  with  a  Russian  Prince  83 

X.  Sanger's  Fall 94 

XI.  The     People's     Palace     of     St.     Petersburg 

(Narodni  Dom) 103 

XII.  Russia's  Financial  Future iii 

XIII.  The  Russian  Finances 123 

XIV        A  Funeral 133 

XV.  The   Chinovnik   (The   Russian   Official)     .     .  144 

XVI.  The  Sufferings  of  the  Jews 154 

XVII.  The  Jewish   Question 167 

XVIII.  Plehve 173 

XIX.  The  Administration  of  Justice 182 

XX.  The  Imperial  Family  as  the  Public  Sees  It.  196 

XXI.  Public  Opinion  and  the  Press 206 

XXII.  Some  Realities  of  the  Legal  Profession  .     .  217 

iii 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XXIII.  The  Student  Body  in  Russia 226 

XXIV.  Before  the  Catastrophe 235 

XXV.  Sectarians  and  Socialists 245 

XXVI.  Moscow 257 

XXVII.  Moscow — Continued 270 

XXVIII.  A  Visit  to  Tolstoi 285 

XXIX.  A  Visit  to  Tolstoi — Continued 295 

XXX.  A  Visit  to  Tolstoi — Continued 310 


PREFACE 

IN  this  volume  is  presented  to  American  readers 
an  unbiased  description  of  the  real  state  of  af- 
fairs in  Russia  to-day.  The  sketches  here  brought 
together  are  the  result  of  a  special  visit  to  Russia 
by  Mr.  Hugo  Ganz,  the  well  -  known  writer  of 
Vienna,  who  was  furnished  with  the  best  of  in- 
troductions to  the  various  circles  of  Russian  society, 
and  had  thus  exceptional  opportunities  to  acquire 
reliable  information. 

Were  not  the  reputation  of  the  author  and  the 
standard  of  his  informants  alike  absolutely  above 
suspicion,  it  would  seem  incredible  that  such  con- 
ditions as  those  depicted  could  exist  in  the  twentieth 
century  in  a  country  claiming  a  place  among  civ- 
ilized nations.  Indeed,  whereas  Japan  has  incon- 
testably  proved  that  she  is  emerging  from  the  dark- 
ness of  centuries,  Russia  is  content  to  remain  in  a 
state  of  semi-barbarism  which  might  be  looked  for 
in  the  Middle  Ages. 

Since  the  sketches  were  written,  the  birth  of  an 
heir  to  the  imperial  throne  and  the  assassination  of 
Von  Plehve  have  altered   Russian  conditions  to  a 

V 


PREFACE 

certain  extent.  But  though  the  appointment  of 
Svyatopolk  -  Mirski  seems  at  first  sight  to  afford 
ground  for  congratulation,  it  is  evident  that  even 
with  the  best  intentions  the  new  minister  of  the 
interior  will  hardly  be  able  to  effect  much  ameliora- 
tion until  the  entire  system  of  the  Russian  govern- 
ment is  changed. 

Several  of  the  articles  in  the  following  pages  have 
appeared  in  the  Berlin  Nation  and  in  the  Frankfort 
Zeiiitug,  and  have  received  ver>'  favorable  notice  in 
the  German  press.  It  is  intended  to  publish  an 
edition  of  the  book  m  German,  but  the  present 
translation  is  the  only  authorized  one  in  the  English 
language. 

Herman  Rosenthal 

New  York  Public  Library, 
October  I,  igo4. 


THE  LAND  OF  RIDDLES 

(RUSSIA    OF    TO-DAY) 


THE  LAND  OF  RIDDLES 

(RUSSIA    OF    TO-DAY) 


INTRODUCTION 

SHORTLY  before  my  departure  from  Vienna  I 
chanced  to  meet  an  acquaintance,  a  Viennese 
writer. 

"Are  you  really  going  to  Russia?"  said  he.  "I 
•almost  envy  you,  for  it  is  to  us  a  land  of  riddles. 
It  has  great  artists  and  writers  and  undoubtedly  a 
highly  educated  upper  stratimi  of  the  nation;  at 
the  same  time  it  displays  political  conditions  really 
barbarous  in  their  backwardness.  How  are  these 
co-ordinated?  How  is  the  maintenance  possible, 
in  the  close  proximity  of  comparatively  free  gov- 
ernments, of  a  regime  which  knows  no  personal 
liberty,  no  privacy  of  the  mails,  and  in  which  there 
is  but  one  master — namely,  the  absolute  police?" 

' '  You  are  raising  the  very  questions  which  lead 
me  there,"  I  replied.     "We  do  not  know  Russia. 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

We  wonder  at  its  great  writers,  but  we  cannot 
conceive  how  their  greatness  is  possible  under  the 
existing  conditions  of  public  life,  which  remind 
one  of  a  penitentiary  rather  than  of  a  civilized 
state.  And  the  question  that  persistently  arises  is 
whether  our  conception  of  these  conditions  corre- 
sponds to  reality,  or  whether  we  are  laboring  under 
such  a  delusion  as  would  befall  one  attempting  to 
judge  public  life  in  Germany  from  the  speeches  of 
Bebel  and  other  radicals.  In  truth,  we  know  only 
the  opposition  or  revolutionary  literature  of  Russia ; 
and,  as  far  as  appearances  go,  it  is  hardly  credible 
that  a  system  such  as  it  describes  and  brands  for 
its  inhuman  wickedness  can  long  retain  the  as- 
cendency." 

"You  are  going,  then,  without  prejudices?" 
"  I  think  I  may  say  that  I  have  none.  We  have 
long  been  cured  of  the  notion  that  one  and  the  same 
form  of  government  may  be  prescribed  as  the  only 
one  leading  to  contentment  in  all  times  and  in  all 
countries.  Deductive  philosophy  in  political  science 
has  been  replaced  by  inductive  realistic  philosophy, 
and  a  true  understanding  of  existing  conditions 
appears  now  to  us  of  greater  moment  than  the  most 
beautiful  ideals.  Above  all  things,  I  feel  myself 
free  from  the  childish  moral  valuation  of  different 
political  beliefs.  One  person  may  be  at  the  same 
time  a  conservative  and  a  gentleman  or  a  radical 
and  a  knave.  Should  I  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
Russian  absolutism  is  or  can  be  defended  in  good 


INTRODUCTION 

faith  by  upright  Russian  patriots  there  will  be  noth- 
ing to  prevent  my  freely  admitting  it.  An  unbiased 
observer  should  not  be  wedded  to  any  doctrine." 

"  In  that  case  I  shall  be  doubly  curious  as  to  the 
results  of  your  studies." 

We  parted. 

I  have  cited  here  this  characteristic  conversation 
because  it  demonstrates  better  than  any  introduc- 
tion what  the  intelligent  European  is  nowadays  eager 
to  discover  about  Russia,  and  what  led  me  in  the 
depth  of  winter,  at  the  critical  moment  before  the 
outbreak  of  a  great  war,  to  the  northern  empire. 
That  this  war  was  imminent  was  then  (at  the  be- 
ginning of  January)  apparent  to  every  statesman 
free  from  official  bias.  There  was  scarcely  a  fore- 
boding of  it  in  Russia  itself.  For  me,  however,  that 
particular  moment  was  of  value,  for  it  offered  an 
opportunity  to  study  for  a  short  time  Russian  so- 
ciety, first  in  a  state  of  calm,  and  then  in  the  excite- 
ment which  naturally  followed  the  declaration  of 
war.  I  made  provision  for  both  war  and  peace  and 
set  out  on  my  journey. 

To  be  sure,  I  was  not  as  light  of  heart  as  if  I  had 
been  preparing  to  spend  the  winter  on  the  Riviera 
or  in  Sicily.  The  climate  had  no  terrors  for  me, 
for  I  knew  that  nowhere  is  one  so  well  protected  from 
the  severity  of  the  season  as  in  the  regions  where  ice 
and  snow  hold  sway  for  at  least  one-third  of  the 
year.  But  it  was  the  gorgon-headed  Russian  police 
that  confronted  me  threateningly.     My  aim  in  travel 

3 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

was  the  study  of  political  conditions,  the  unreserved 
discussion  with  clear  -  sighted  and  well  -  informed 
persons  of  the  existing  state  of  affairs.  It  was  my 
purpose  to  record  carefully  my  impressions  and  ob- 
servations, and  to  report  them  to  all  who  were  in- 
terested in  my  studies.  But  we  are  told  that  all 
political  conversation  is  forbidden  in  Russia.  One 
may  subject  himself  and  his  friends  to  great  an- 
noyance by  allowing  some  meddling  ear-witness  to 
catch  accidentally  a  fragment  of  a  political  conver- 
sation. Writing  and  note- taking  are  even  more 
dangerous;  for  the  police  open  all  letters,  and  they 
are  not  deterred  by  any  conscientious  scruples  from 
confiscating  the  notes  even  of  foreigners  when  they 
appear  suspicious.  Ambassadors  and  consuls  are 
loath  to  engage  in  altercations  with  the  Russian 
police,  for  statesmanship  enjoins  friendly  relations 
with  the  government  of  the  powerful  Russian  em- 
pire, and  when  an  inconvenient  foreigner  disappears 
somewhere  in  darkest  Russia — as  was  the  case  with 
a  French  engineer  who  came  in  conflict  with  the 
police  in  a  concert-hall  and  was  never  seen  again — 
no  one  is  disturbed  by  the  incident.  All  these  re- 
flections were  not  cheering  to  me,  who,  besides,  was 
unfamiliar  with  the  language  of  the  country.  None 
the  less  was  I  averse  to  returning  home  without  my 
whole  skin  or  with  empty  hands. 

Here  I  would  state  that  I  did  not  experience  the 
slightest  annoyance  throughout  my  entire  journey. 
I  was  not  subjected  to  police  surveillance,  nor  did  I 

4 


INTRODUCTION 

notice  in  my  meagre  correspondence  the  least  trace 
of  police  interference — the  latter  being  probably  due 
to  the  extreme  precautions  taken  by  me  in  sending 
my  mail  in  inconspicuous  envelopes.  And  yet  what 
a  condition  of  things  for  a  great  country — that  every 
traveller  who  wishes  to  enter  its  territory  must  arm 
himself  with  precautionary  measures,  as  if  he  were 
preparing  to  visit  a  robber's  den!  Is  it  compatible 
with  the  usages  of  modern  Europe,  forsooth,  that  no 
step  may  be  taken  in  this  country  without  one's 
being  provided  with  documents  of  identification; 
that  one  may  not  cross  the  boundary  either  into  or 
out  of  the  country  without  the  special  permission 
of  the  consulate  or  of  the  police  ?  Is  Russia  a  state 
or  a  prison?  Is  it  a  modern  Tauris  full  of  terrors 
to  the  stranger  ?  I  am  not  now  speaking  of  the  pass- 
port difficulties  peculiar  to  Jews,  who,  generally 
speaking,  can  hardly  obtain  entrance  to  holy  Russia, 
and  who,  when  they  succeed  in  gaining  admission, 
must  be  in  constant  dread  of  unpleasantness  in 
every  town  and  in  every  hotel.  I  merely  ask 
whether  it  is  compatible  with  the  good  name  of  a 
state  that  still  wishes  to  exchange  courtesies  with 
neighboring  states  to  appear  in  the  popular  imagi- 
nation as  a  ferocious  monster  ignoring  right  and 
without  decency?  How  can  trade  and  intercourse 
develop ;  how  can  the  unimpeded  flow  of  the  sap  of 
culture,  the  circulation  of  the  national  blood,  take 
place  in  a  land  where  terror  guards  the  boundaries 
and  where  the  reputation  of  arbitrariness  impedes 

5 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

all  progress  ?  And  what  modem  state  or  system  of 
national  economy  may,  without  the  unimpeded  cir- 
culation of  the  sap  of  culture,  maintain  itself  at  a 
level  corresponding  to  the  modem  requirements  of 
its  internal  and  external  productive  capacity  ?  Are 
the  advantages  of  an  all-controlling  police  system 
in  any  degree  proportionate  to  its  innumerable  eco- 
nomic disadvantages  ?  Is  the  occasional  annoyance 
of  a  really  objectionable  intruder  sufficient  com- 
pensation for  the  evil  reputation  which  this  system 
attaches  to  the  whole  country?  It  is  a  sheer  im- 
possibility to  watch  daily  and  hourly  a  hundred 
million  people.  Why  are  such  enormous  sacrifices 
made  at  all  for  the  sake  of  an  undertaking  in- 
jurious in  itself  and,  moreover,  impossible  of 
execution  ? 

Such  are  the  thoughts  that  the  traveller  approach- 
ing the  frontier  cannot  escape.  I  may  here  say,  in 
advance,  that  the  police  could  not  prevent  my  hold- 
ing conversations  throughout  Russia  with  men  in 
various  walks  of  life  on  subjects  very  objectionable 
to  the  police  officials.  Is  it  worth  while,  then,  to 
bear  the  evil  repute  that  Russia  is  a  prison  where 
no  man's  life  or  property  is  secure?  Apart  from 
actual  fact,  the  stranger  does  not  know,  before 
crossing  the  boundary,  whether  the  police  tyranny 
is  really  as  inexorable  as  it  is  pictured  and  is  be- 
lieved abroad,  but  of  this  he  is  certain,  that  such  an 
evil  reputation  does  the  country  incalculable  eco- 
nomic injury,  and  that  a  country  with  such  an  evil 

6 


INTRODUCTION 

repute  can  never  be  regarded  as  mature  from  the 
economic  stand-point,  to  say  nothing  of  political 
honor,  to  which,  perhaps,  there  is  a  disposition  to 
attach  less  value  in  the  high  places  of  autocratic 
rule. 


II 

WARSAW 

THE  express  -  train  is  nearing  the  frontier  at 
dawn.  We  are  greeted  by  the  sleeping  -  car 
conductor  with  the  significant  announcement,  "We 
shall  soon  be  in  Russia ' ' — an  announcement  which, 
it  must  be  confessed,  produces  a  slight  palpitation 
of  the  heart.  We  are  now  at  the  gate  of  a  mysteri- 
ous country,  with  passport  and  baggage  in  the  best 
of  order.  A  Russian  consulate  had  found  us  worthy 
to  set  foot  upon  the  soil  of  holy  Russia,  and  had  ex- 
plicitly stated  that  fact  in  our  passport.  Travellers 
may  journey  without  this  certificate  through  the 
five  continents,  but  if  unprovided  with  it  may  not 
set  foot  on  Russian  soil.  We  have  no  weapons  save 
our  five  fingers,  and,  above  all,  not  a  single  printed 
book  or  newspaper  that  might  cause  trouble  at  the 
frontier,  excepting  the  invaluable  Baedeker,  for  the 
importation  of  books,  as  we  already  knew  at  home, 
is  put  under  severe  ban  in  the  domain  of  the  Holy 
Synod.  None  the  less,  a  slight  palpitation  of  the 
heart,  a  slight  anxiety,  are  felt  at  the  sight  of  a  nar- 
row bridge  leading  between  two  sentry-boxes  over 
a  small  stream  separating  two  countries — nay,  two 


WARSAW 

civilizations.  Shall  we  find  favor  in  the  eyes  of 
the  almighty  gendarme  who  enters  our  coupe  with 
a  polite  bow,  as  we  approach  the  station,  and  asks 
for  our  passport?  May  it  not  be  that  a  secret 
police  prohibition  has  preceded  us,  notwithstand- 
ing the  regularity  of  our  passport,  and  that  it  now 
precludes  our  entrance  ?  Has  not  your  XJen  sinned 
many  a  time  against  the  knout  and  autocracy,  and 
are  you  not,  after  all,  if  carefully  examined,  with 
all  your  scribbling,  a  thoroughly  objectionable  per- 
son in  the  eyes  of  the  police — at  least,  when  seen 
with  Russian  eyes? 

But,  thank  Heaven,  the  world  is  great  and  I  am 
insignificant ;  Russian  censorship  has  not  yet  taken 
notice  of  all  the  sins  of  my  pen;  hence  the  same 
officer  returns  to  me  with  the  same  bow  my  passport 
after  the  customs  inspection.  The  holy  Russian 
empire,  from  Warsaw  to  Vladivostok,  is  now  exposed 
to  my  curious  eyes. 

The  customs  inspection  was  in  itself  a  peculiar 
experience.  The  porter,  a  Pole  with  a  good-natured, 
handsome  face,  takes  our  baggage  and  baggage-cer- 
tificate, and  invites  us  with  a  friendly  gesture  to 
follow  him  to  the  great  inspection  hall.  The  hall  is 
scrupulously  clean  and  no  loud  talking  is  heard 
there.  The  passengers  take  their  places  on  one 
side  of  the  inspection-table,  the  porters  on  the  other, 
the  latter  in  orderly  file  with  their  caps  in  their 
hands.  They  communicate  with  one  another  only 
with    their   eyes.     Silence    has   begun.     I    do    not 

9 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

know  whether  it  is  purposely  so,  or  whether  it  is 
merely  incidental  to  the  particularly  strict  local 
regime,  that  the  implicit  obedience,  the  silent  sub- 
jection, and  the  irresistible  power  of  despotism  are 
here  brought  home  so  effectively  to  the  stranger. 
But  this  impression  remains  with  the  traveller 
throughout  the  entire  journey: 

"  Be  silent,  restrain  yourselves, 
We  are  watched  in  word  and  look." 

An  empire  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  millions  of 
prisoners  and  of  one  million  jailers — such  is  Russia ; 
and  these  jailers  understand  no  joke.  It  is  a  terri- 
ble machinery,  this  despotism,  with  all  its  wheels 
working  one  within  the  other.  It  is  relentless  and 
keen  in  all  its  mechanism,  henceforth  no  loud  word 
shall  be  spoken.  The  official  organs  alone  have  a 
voice ;  private  persons  may  speak  only  in  low  tones. 

But  how  orderly,  politely,  and  neatly  do  the 
officials  and  porters  execute  the  examination  and 
forwarding  of  our  baggage  when  despotism  wishes 
to  reconcile  people  to  its  threatening  silence.  Only 
ten  kopeks,  turned  into  the  common  treasury,  are 
asked  for  the  handling  of  our  large  amount  of  bag- 
gage, and  we  are  then  led,  together  with  the  other 
travellers,  to  the  Russian  exit  of  the  customs  in- 
spection hall.  After  a  short  wait  there  the  gate  is 
opened,  and  at  a  given  signal  we  are  marched  out 
of  the  hall  in  single  file  to  refresh  ourselves,  before 
the  departure  of  the  train,  with  a  little  breakfast. 

lO 


WARSAW 

Scrupulous  cleanliness  reigns  in  the  large,  airy- 
restaurant  also.  We  are  in  the  land  of  caviar. 
Caviar  sandwiches,  appetizingly  prepared,  lie  on 
the  buffet-table.  "Caviar"  may  also  be  found  in 
one  or  another  of  the  foreign  papers  offered  for  sale 
by  the  newsboys.  When  the  censorship  finds  it  in- 
convenient to  eliminate  entire  pages  whose  con- 
tents are  objectionable,  it  generously  spreads  print- 
er's ink  on  the  condemned  passages,  scatters  sand 
over  them,  and  puts  the  whole  in  the  press.  The 
result  is  a  lattice-like  pattern,  not  unlike  in  ap- 
pearance to  pressed  caviar,  to  which  the  Russian, 
with  good-natured  self -derision,  applies  the  term 
"press-caviar,"  an  expression  which  has  a  two- 
fold meaning.  Caviar  is  admittedly  regarded  as 
an  easily  digestible  food.  The  Russian  censor  con- 
siders his  caviar  more  useful  and  less  harmful  than 
that  which  ill-advised  men  in  foreign  countries 
allow  themselves  to  print. 

A  few  glasses  of  tea  drawn  from  a  samovar  drive 
away  the  last  traces  of  the  morning  frost,  and, 
wrapped  in  fur  coats,  and  with  a  feeling  like  that 
succeeding  an  adventure  crowned  with  victory,  we  for 
the  first  time  stroll  along  a  Russian  railway  platform. 

We  again  enter  the  coupe,  now  in  charge  of  Rus- 
sian attendants. 

A  long,  monotonous  ride  through  level,  swampy 
country,  over  which  there  slowly  floats  the  gray 
vapor  of  the  locomotive,  finally  brings  us  at  dusk  to 
Warsaw. 

II 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

Nothing  oppresses  the  spirit  more  deeply  than 
such  a  ten-hour  monotony  of  leaden-gray  skies, 
dirty-gray  snow,  and  a  thick,  gray,  smoky  mist. 
The  gendarmes  in  gray  coats  at  the  infrequent 
stations;  the  greasy  Jews  with  their  long  coats  of 
uncertain  color;  the  secret  police  with  their  ques- 
tionable gentility,  never  absent — all  these  are  not 
calculated  to  relieve  the  painful  feeling  of  sadness 
and  dreariness.  We  were  out  of  humor  when  we 
reached  Warsaw.  We  believed  that  we  had  the 
right  to  expect  crisp  winter  weather  in  Russia  and 
were  disappointed  to  find  only  mud  and  humidity. 
But  perhaps  Warsaw  is  not  really  Russia?  Or  are 
we  still  in  central  Europe  ?  The  evening  at  the  ho- 
tel and  the  following  days  conclusively  proved  to 
us  that  Warsaw,  indeed  all  Poland,  with  its  climate, 
its  civilization,  its  religion,  and — its  ideas,  does  not 
belong,  in  the  real  sense  of  the  term,  to  Russia ;  that 
the  isotherm  which  connects  Russia  proper  with 
other  regions  of  the  same  mean  temperature  runs 
considerably  north  of  Poland.  A  Buckle  would  be 
puzzled  by  this  fact  alone.  The  dwellers  could  not 
be  of  the  same  race  here  nor  the  same  system  be 
possible.  When,  nevertheless,  only  one  power  rules 
here,  it  does  so  by  violence  and  in  spite  of  natural 
laws;  it  must  give  rise  to  resentment  and  can  give 
no  promise  of  permanence. 

On  my  return  journey  from  the  heart  of  Russia 
I  purposely  suppressed  the  first  impression  gained 
by  me   in  Warsaw,  but  when   I   was   there   again 


WARSAW 

this  impression  reasserted  itself  even  more  strongly. 
Warsaw  is  no  more  Russia  than  Lemberg  or  Dres- 
den, in  spite  of  the  overpowering  Russian  churches, 
in  spite  of  the  innumerable  Russian  officers  and 
soldiers,  in  spite  of  the  obligatory  Russian  signs  on 
the  stores,  which,  with  some  experience,  may  be 
deciphered  as  "Chajim  Berlinerblau,"  or  something 
similar. 

Aside  from  its  jargon-speaking  Jews,  Warsaw  is 
pre-eminently  a  Catholic  city,  and  its  entire  civiliza- 
tion is  Roman  Catholic.  Its  very  situation  is  strik- 
ing. Approaching  it  from  the  Vistula,  one  may 
see  where  the  city  had  built  its  defences — towards 
the  east!  Thence  came  the  enemy,  the  Mongol, 
the  Russian.  From  the  east  there  came  barbar- 
ism and  oppression,  therefore  the  fortifications  and 
walls  were  built  on  the  river-bank  commanding  the 
valley  of  the  Vistula,'  through  which  alone  an  enemy 
could  come.  From  the  west  came  only  the  blessings 
of  civilization  and  religion,  with  its  messengers  that 
once  were  harbingers  of  civilization,  and  which,  per- 
haps, still  remain  such  in  this  region. 

Warsaw  is  a  beautiful  and  fashionable  city  when 
considered  apart  from  the  sections  where  the  Jews 
are  crowded  together.  The  members  of  its  elegant 
society  know  how  to  live  in  spite  of  national  misery 
and  oppression.  Hotel  Bristol,  the  finest  hotel  in 
the  city,  is  their  rendezvous.  Here  they  meet  one 
another  at  breakfast,  at  dinner,  in  the  splendid  Eng- 
lish dining-room;  men  and  women,    guests    from 

13 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

Prussian- Poland  and  Galicia,  noble  families  of  the 
partitioned  kingdom.  They  are  of  one  race,  one 
class,  one  caste;  they  know  one  another,  like  mem- 
bers of  the  same  club,  and  all  approximately  the 
same  type  —  somewhat  overslender  forms,  long, 
nervous  hands,  finely  sculptured  noses,  sharply  chis- 
elled temples,  angular  foreheads,  the  women  supple 
and  lissome,  each  motion  accompanied  by  a  touch 
of  polished  affectation.  When  compared  with  this 
Polish  aristocracy,  the  Russian  officers,  who  eat  at 
separate  tables,  leave  the  impression,  with  their 
German  scholar-faces  or  Cossack  physiognomies,  of 
provincial  backwardness.  They  are  merely  bour- 
geois in  imiform  even  though  they  be  real  princes, 
while  the  Pole  who  has  graduated  from  that  high- 
school  of  refinement,  the  Jesuit  boarding-school,  is 
an  aristocrat,  a  cavalier,  from  head  to  foot.  They  re- 
main separate  like  oil  and  water.  The  Russian,  even 
though  he  is  the  master,  is  of  no  consequence  here. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  observe  for  the  space  of  an 
hour  from  some  comer  of  the  elegant  dining-room 
of  Hotel  Bristol  the  behavior  of  the  Polish  society 
and  the  complete  isolation  of  the  Russian  officers  or 
officials ;  it  is  only  necessary  to  be  able  to  distinguish 
the  groups  from  one  another — the  Baltic  nobility 
with  their  almost  bourgeois  families,  merchants 
from  all  the  principal  countries,  Russian  function- 
aries, and  Polish  society — and  it  will  at  once  be- 
come clear  who  is  at  home  here,  firmly  rooted 
to  the  soil,  so    that   all  others  become    strangers 

14 


WARSAW 

and   intruders  ;     it    is    the    Poles    and    the    Poles 
alone. 

There  is  some  talk  of  a  change  of  relations  that 
has  been  attempted  with  the  aid  of  the  French  ally- 
through  the  Vatican,  so  as  to  array  Poland  against 
Protestant  Prussia  and  to  reconcile  it  to  ortho- 
dox Russia.  Indeed,  the  Russian  government  has 
found  it  necessary  to  allow  religious  instructions 
in  secondary  schools  to  be  given  in  the  Polish 
mother-tongue,  just  at  the  time  when  the  German 
government  had  on  its  hands  the  Wreschen  trials. 
In  fact,  the  more  Prussian  narrowness  insults  and 
provokes  the  Poles  the  greater  are  the  Russian  ef- 
forts to  win  them  over.  This,  however,  is  only  a 
political  move,  an  attempt  at  bribery  that  the  Poles 
let  pass  because  it  suits  them,  though  one,  perhaps, 
that  the  real  go-betweens,  the  Jesuits,  take  in  ear- 
nest, but  the  success  of  which,  after  all,  would  be  con- 
trary to  all  known  facts  of  history  and  civilization, 
for  it  would  be  opposed  to  the  national  sentiment. 
In  Russia  dwells  the  marrow  of  the  Polish  nation; 
in  Russia  dwell  the  Polish  aristocracy  and  that 
industrial  middle  class  which  has  become  rich  and 
Polish  in  spirit  in  so  far  as  it  was  of  foreign  origin ; 
and  yet  in  this  homogeneous  land  of  Poland  the 
Polish  language  is  interdicted,  so  to  speak,  and  tol- 
erated everywhere  only  as  a  local  dialect.  Uni- 
versity, gymnasiums,  courts,  and  administration  are 
all  Russian — a  Gessler  hat,  placed  in  the  Russian 
sign  of  every  store,  on  which  the  Latin-Polish  in- 

15 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

scription  may  appear  only  in  a  secondary  position — 
a  proceeding  to  which  no  self-respecting  people  will 
submit,  and  need  not  submit,  especially  from  a  mas- 
ter whose  so-called  civilization  is  of  far  more  recent 
origin  than  its  own.  The  German  in  America  be- 
comes Americanized  voluntarily  and  irresistibly,  be- 
cause the  English  language  is  recognized  as  a  more 
useful  medium  than  his  own,  as  the  world-language. 
The  Pole  will  never  become  Russianized  as  long  as 
he  remains  on  Polish  soil;  and  no  matter  how  sig- 
nificantly the  "  Ausgleichspolen "  (Polish  compro- 
mise party)  flirt  with  the  Russian  regime,  such  an 
attitude  hides  a  sense  of  annoyance  and  is  not  caused 
by  real  fellow-feeling.  For  the  Pole,  Germanization 
is  an  ill-fitting  garment  that  only  binds;  Russian- 
ization  is  a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  producing  pus  and 
throwing  the  entire  system  into  a  fever. 


Ill 

WARSAW — CONTINUED 

POLITICAL  reflections  force  themselves  on  you 
in  this  subjugated  but  by  no  means  pacified 
country.  It  is  in  vain  you  tell  yourself  that  the 
constant  factors  of  climate,  soil,  race,  and  religion 
are  of  greater  importance  for  the  true  understand- 
ing of  a  country,  city,  or  people  than  passing  po- 
litical incidents  and  systems.  You  cannot  emanci- 
pate yourself  from  politics  in  Poland.  This  is  not 
a  country  like  German  Alsace,  where,  according  to 
Moltke,  a  guard  must  be  kept  for  fifty  years,  after 
which,  like  the  German  country  it  originally  was,  it 
will  again  become  and  remain  German.  Poland  is  a 
country  forcibly  subjected  and  conquered,  and  you 
feel  it  when  walking  the  streets  and  in  the  fashion- 
able hotel,  where  the  national  sorrow  is  generously 
moistened  with  champagne  at  the  tables  of  the 
aristocracy  even  at  the  early  breakfast  hour. 

However,  it  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  be  more 
passionately  patriotic  and  political  than  these  cham- 
pagne counts,  and  we  must  attempt  to  secure  some- 
thing of  the  street  scenes  without  becoming  in- 
volved too  deeply  in  political  problems. 

a  17 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

Whenever  I  come  to  a  town  I  ask  myself,  Why- 
was  it  built  here  and  not  elsewhere  ?  With  the  help 
of  a  little  imagination  one  can  understand  even  to- 
day how  Warsaw  came  into  existence.  It  was  at  the 
head  of  a  bridge.  The  word  "Warsaw"  is  believed 
to  be  derived  from  the  word  "Warszain"  (on  the 
height) .  So  the  city  lies  at  a  height  of  about  forty 
metres  on  the  bank  of  the  Vistula,  fully  half  a  kilo- 
metre wide  at  this  place.  An  elevation  of  forty 
metres  on  the  immediate  bank  of  a  broad  stream 
offered,  at  the  time  of  its  foundation  in  the  twelfth 
century,  a  natural  fortification,  and  the  merchants 
who  came  up  from  the  sea  to  sell  their  wares  to  the 
semi-barbarous  inhabitants  of  the  plain  may  have 
foimd  perhaps  on  this  height  a  frequent  protection 
from  the  attacks  of  the  plainsmen.  Later  the  fort 
became  a  city  and  culture  and  luxury  made  their 
appearance,  offering  to  the  tamed  dwellers  of  the 
plains  and  to  the  landed  proprietors  from  far  and 
near  the  opportunity  to  squander  the  proceeds  of 
their  crops.  The  numerous  churches  did  not  fare 
badly  in  the  days  of  penitence  then. 

To-day,  Warsaw  is  still  a  fine  city  of  broad  streets 
paved  with  wooden  blocks,  with  rows  of  stores  on 
both  sides,  prominent  among  which  are  the  richly 
equipped  jewelry  establishments.  Carriage  traffic 
is  considerable,  even  though  it  cannot  compare  with 
that  in  St.  Petersburg.  Just  now  the  main  artery 
of  the  city,  the  Vistula,  is  closed.  The  stream  is 
frozen  almost  over  its  entire  width  and  ravens  croak 


WARSAW 

on  the  snowy  shoals.  But  within  the  city  there  pass 
unceasingly  modestly  neat  cabriolets,  fashionable 
cabs,  and  splendid  private  turnouts  with  Russian 
harness  and  servants.  The  buildings  are  of  little 
interest.  A  few  attempts  in  the  Russian  style,  a 
few  Polish  shadings  of  quite  modem  secession  archi- 
tecture strike  the  foreigner,  but  the  deepest  im- 
pression is  created  by  the  feverish  life  on  the  streets 
and  not  by  its  ornamental  frame-work.  From  this 
should  be  excepted  the  pleasure  Villa  Lazienki 
and  its  quaint  park  situated  at  the  end  of  the 
avenue.  Even  snow  and  ice  cannot  banish  the 
spirits  that  possess  one  in  these  gardens.  It  is  a 
miniature  Versailles.  Here  is  a  little  castle  within 
which  is  a  picture-gallery  of  aristocratic  beauties, 
statues,  and  portraits  of  King  Stanislas  Poniatow- 
ski  represented  mythologically  as  King  Solomon 
entering  Jerusalem;  without  are  enchanting  villas 
scattered  throughout  the  park,  in  the  centre  of 
which  is  a  little  natural  theatre  built  in  the  open  of 
stone,  and  arranged  like  an  amphitheatre,  the  stage 
separated  from  the  rest  by  an  arena  of  the  wide  lake, 
and  constructed  of  Corinthian  columns  and  palisade 
of  bushes.  Plays  were  given  here  in  the  times  when 
the  court  and  the  "beauties"  of  the  picture-gallery 
enjoyed  nature  and  art  together.  The  moon  in  the 
sky  was  one  of  the  requisites,  and  fireworks  were 
burned  for  the  relaxation  of  the  high  and  most  high 
lords.  Meanwhile  the  kingdom  hastened  to  its  ruin ; 
for  a  witty,  pleasure-loving  court  and  an  immoral  oli- 

19 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

garchy  together  are  beyond  the  endurance  of  one 
people,  especially  when  it  is  surrounded  by  covetous 
neighbors.  One  hundred  years  of  slavery  and  three 
ruthlessly  suppressed  revolutions  are  the  historical 
penalty  for  the  pleasures  of  Castle  Lazienki.  There 
and  on  the  broad  election  plane  the  "  Pole  Elekcji 
Krolow,"  in  the  southern  part  of  the  town,  where  the 
"  schlachtzitz  "  (lordling)  could  deposit  his  "  liber um 
veto"  for  a  couple  of  rubles  or  thalers,  the  kingdom 
was  destroyed,  and  its  resurrection  is  a  pious  wish 
the  fulfilment  of  which  even  our  grandchildren  will 
not  live  to  see. 

I  have  no  faith  in  a  Polish  kingdom.  There  may 
be  a  Polish  revolution  to-morrow,  perhaps,  when  the 
Russians  shall  meet  defeat  in  eastern  Asia,  as  the 
Russian  patriots  hope,  but  a  Polish  kingdom  there 
will  never  be.  It  is  quite  apparent  how  the  influ- 
ence of  the  times  is  changing  the  entire  social  struct- 
ure of  the  people.  No  nation  can  maintain  itself 
without  a  middle  class,  and  Poland  still  has  no 
middle  class.  The  material  for  such  a  class,  the 
strong  Jewish  population,  has  been  so  ground  down 
that  a  half -century  would  not  be  sufficient  for  its 
restoration  and  the  Russian  regime  of  to-day  is  dis- 
posed to  anything  rather  than  to  the  uplifting  and 
the  education  of  the  Polish  Jewry.  It  is  stated  that 
there  are  in  Warsaw  a  quarter  of  a  million  Jews,  a 
few  well-to-do  people  among  them,  who  have  hast- 
ened, for  the  most  part,  to  transform  themselves 
into  "Poles  of    the    Mosaic    faith,"    without    dis- 

20 


WARSAW 

arming  thereby  the  clerical  anti  -  Semitism  of  the 
Polish  people,  and  inniimerable  beggars  or  half- 
beggars,  who  are  designated  in  western  Europe  as 
"schnorrer."  And  of  these  there  are  in  Warsaw  an 
unknown  number.  It  is  hard  to  draw  the  line  be- 
tween the  "schnorrer"  and  the  "Luftmensch"  (a 
man  without  any  certain  source  of  income) ,  who  has 
not  yet  resigned  himself  to  beggary,  and  yet  cannot 
tell  in  the  morning  whence  he  is  to  draw  his  suste- 
nance at  noon.  These  include  artisans,  sweat-shop 
workers,  agents,  and  go-betweens,  a  city  proletariat 
of  the  very  worst  kind.  I  have  seen  no  such  shock- 
ing miser}^  in  the  Jewish  quarters  on  the  Moldau  as 
I  encountered  in  the  brilliant  capital  Warsaw.  The 
Polish  Jew,  everywhere  despised  and  unwelcome,  is 
the  wandering  poverty-witness  of  Polish  misman- 
agement, A  system  that  succeeds  in  depraving  the 
sober,  pious,  and  sexually  disciplined  orthodox  Jew 
to  the  extent  observed  in  a  portion  of  the  Jewish 
Polish  proletariat  should  be  accorded  recognition 
as  the  most  useless  system  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
In  the  last  analysis  it  was  the  Polish  "  schlachtzitz," 
and  the  Polish  clerical  going  hand-in-hand  with  him, 
that  constituted  the  prime  cause  of  all  the  miseries  of 
the  nineteenth  century. 

And  yet,  to  be  just,  one  should  compare  this  cheer- 
less Polish- Jewish  proletariat  with  its  immediate  en- 
vironment— the  Polish  peasants  and  the  common 
people.  Here  one  would  still  find  a  plus  of  virtues 
on  the  Jewish  side.     The  wretched  Polish  peasant 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

is  not  more  cleanly  than  the  Jew.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  lives  in  the  same  room  with  his  pig,  and 
no  ritual  requirement  compels  him  to  wash  his  body 
at  least  once  a  week.  The  Jew,  under  his  patched 
garment,  is  for  the  most  part  comparatively  clean, 
only  hopelessly  stunted  and  emaciated.  The  Jew 
does  not  drink,  while  his  "master,"  the  Pole,  has  a 
kindly  disposition  towards  all  sorts  of  spirituous 
liquors.  Also,  the  modesty  of  the  Jewish  women  has 
yielded  but  lately  to  the  pressure  of  endless  misery 
or  the  temptations  of  the  cities,  while  of  the  higher 
classes  of  Polish  and  Russian  society  but  little  of 
an  exemplary  character  has  been  told.    And  finally : 

"  Deutsche  Redlichkeit  suchst  Du  in  alien  Winkeln  verge- 
bens." 

Goethe's  verse  applies  not  only  to  the  Italians,  for 
whom  it  was  intended ;  it  applies  also  to  Poland  and 
Russia,  where  less  faith  is  attached  to  statements 
than  is  customary  with  us,  and  it  applies,  above  all, 
to  the  merchant  classes  of  all  nations  who  are  wont 
to  make  their  living  by  overreaching  their  neigh- 
bors. There  is  a  wide  gulf  between  the  develop- 
ment of  commercial  ethics,  as  they  are  understood 
with  us  and  in  England,  and  the  tricks  and  de- 
vices of  petty  trade  no  matter  of  what  nation.  But 
the  Jew  in  Poland  and  in  Russia  has  been  and  still 
is  being  driven,  in  great  measure,  into  a  class  of 
wretched  petty  traders;  and  the  law  of  the  land 
forces  back  into  the  pale  of  settlement  by  drastic 


WARSAW 

regulations  him   who  would  escape  from  its  cage 
and  from  an  occupation  of  dubious  ethics. 

The  Jewish  section  is  the  "partie  Hortense"  of 
the  beautiful  Polish  capital;  the  Jewish  misery  is  a 
shameful  stain  on  Polish  rule  and  its  Nemesis.  All 
the  five  continents  must  have  their  misery  and  toil, 
and  they  need  a  firm,  all-embracing  humanity  to 
relieve  them  of  this  contagious  wretchedness,  this 
residue  of  centuries  of  depravity.  But  for  Poland 
and  Russia  the  humane  solution  of  the  Jewish  ques- 
tion is  simply  a  life-question. 


IV 

ST.    PETERSBURG 

A  HYMN  of  praise  to  the  Russian  railroad! 
The  Russian  tracks  begin  at  Warsaw  to  have 
a  considerably  broader  bed.  This  for  a  strategical 
purpose,  to  render  difficult  the  invasion  by  Euro- 
pean armies.  It  is  also  a  benefit  to  the  traveller,  for 
the  Russian  coaches  are  wider  and  more  comfortable 
than  the  European,  and  the  side-passages  along  the 
coupe  are  very  convenient  for  little  walks  during 
the  journey.  A  separate  heating  compartment  and 
buffet,  with  the  indispensable  samovar,  where  one 
may  secure  a  glass  of  tea  at  any  time,  are  situated 
in  the  centre  of  the  long  car.  The  trains  do  not  jolt, 
although  they  are  almost  as  fast  as  ours.  The  smoke 
and  soot  do  not  drive  through  the  tightly  closed 
double  windows.  A  twenty-four  hour  trip  here  tires 
one  less  than  a  six-hour  trip  with  us.  Certainly 
there  is  more  need  of  preparation  for  a  comfortable 
journey  in  Russia  than  in  the  West.  The  distances 
are  immense,  a  twenty -four  hour  journey  creating 
no  comments.  The  Warsaw-Petersburg  train  was 
as  well  filled  as  the  ordinary  express-train  between 
Frankfort  and  Cologne. 

24 


ST.    PETERSBURG 

The  run,  which  lasts  from  one  morning  to  the 
next,  is  naturally  not  very  entertaining.  The  broad 
expanse  of  snowy  plain,  relieved  only  by  snow- 
breaks  and  frozen  swamps,  at  every  two  miles  a  few 
wretched  half -Asiatic  huts,  and  occasionally  the  dark 
profile  of  a  forest,  no  more  to  be  seen,  and  a  sea  of 
unintelligible  Slavic  sounds,  no  more  to  be  heard. 
The  feeling  of  loneliness  grows  upon  one,  and  the 
impression  becomes  constantly  stronger  that  Russia 
is  a  world  for  itself. 

But  there  is  an  end  to  everything,  even  to  a  rail- 
road journey  without  books,  without  papers,  and 
without  conversation.  At  the  dawn  of  the  clear, 
wintry  day  one  may  already  distinguish  the  signs  of 
a  great  city.  A  station  with  magnificent  buildings 
and  a  well-cared-for  park  stretching  almost  to  the 
tracks  claims  our  attention  after  the  many  unim- 
pressive sights  of  the  long  road.  We  decipher  the 
name  "Gatschina,"  and  understand  why  there  is 
such  a  strong  police  force  on  the  platform.  This  is 
the  Winter  Palace.  Scarcely  an  hour  later  the 
gilded  cupolas  stand  out  bright  above  the  snow ;  the 
brakes  are  put  on ;  we  are  in  St.  Petersburg. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  city  appears  in  a  favor- 
able light  when  viewed  from  the  railroad.  The  not 
over-elegant  two-horse  vehicle  which  takes  us  and 
our  baggage  rattles  over  miserable  pavements, 
dirty  from  the  melting  snow,  through  broad,  end- 
less suburban  streets.  The  houses  on  either  side 
are  of  only  one  story,  built  mostly  of  wood,  their 

25 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

poverty-stricken  appearance  being  intensified  here 
and  there  by  three-storied  barracks.  Liquor-shops, 
little  second-hand  stores,  wooden  huts,  with  putrid 
garbage,  follow  one  another  in  a  variety  by  no  means 
pleasing.  The  passers-by,  ill-clad,  with  the  inevi- 
table rubber  shoes,  shuffle  along  the  slushy  side- 
walks; trucks  with  two  or  sometimes  three  horses, 
their  necks  bent  under  the  brightly  painted  Russian 
"duga"  (wooden  yoke),  a  truly  Gorki  atmosphere 
in  its  entirety.  One  can  scarcely  believe  that  he  is 
entering  one  of  the  most  brilliant  cities  of  the  conti- 
nent. The  endless  rows  of  stores  with  their  two- 
storied  sheds,  which  one  passes  on  the  way  to  the 
centre  of  the  city,  but  slightly  improve  one's  first 
impression,  for  even  they  are  far  removed  from  the 
splendor  of  the  capital. 

We  finally  reach  the  hotel  to  which  our  mail  has 
been  addressed.  It  is  an  enormous  structure,  more 
than  two  hundred  metres  long.  Yet  it  has  no  room 
for  us.  It  is  filled  to  overflowing.  It  is  impossible 
to  crowd  in  one  more  soul.  We  again  take  our  car- 
riage. We  drive  from  one  hotel  to  another,  growing 
constantly  more  modest  in  our  demands  for  lodging. 
But  our  efforts  are  vain.  Everything  is  occupied 
to  the  very  gables. 

We  were  careless  in  coming  to  St.  Petersburg  in 
January.  This  is  the  time  of  congresses,  of  business, 
of  carnivals.  All  the  provincial  officials  are  here  to 
render  their  annual  reports  to  their  ministries.  Nat- 
urally, they  bring  with  them  their  families,  who  wish 

26 


ST.  PETERSBURG 

to  make  their  important  purchases  here  and  to  taste 
of  the  social  season.  Congresses  and  conferences 
are  held  here  not  in  the  summer  and  vacation 
months  as  with  us,  but  shortly  before  the  "butter- 
week,"  really  a  carnival,  the  pleasure  of  which  one 
may  wish  to  take  this  opportunity  to  test.  Medical, 
teachers',  and  insurance  congresses  are  held  here  at 
the  same  time.  Foreign  merchants  come  here  to 
complete  their  transactions.  But  the  great  city  of 
St.  Petersburg  is  not  adapted  for  foreign  guests. 

The  instincts  of  self-defence  awake  at  the  time  of 
need.  We  do  not  intend  to  camp  to  -  night  under 
the  bridge  arch.  We  make  great  efforts  and  by 
the  evening  have  secured  a  room,  in  spite  of  the 
"absolute  impossibility,"  in  that  large  and  only 
comfortable  hotel  in  St.  Petersburg,  which  we  shared 
with  a  friendly  mouse,  but  wliich  was  free  from 
other  objectionable  tenants.  Even  the  little  mouse 
was  deprived  in  a  base  manner  of  its  life  and  liberty 
the  very  next  night.  Once  provided  with  board 
and  lodging,  we  decided  to  become  acquainted  with 
the  better  side  of  St.  Petersburg.  What  does  a 
stranger  usually  do  in  the  evening  when  he  visits  a 
strange  city?     He  goes  to  some  theatre. 

There  are  plenty  of  hotel  porters  and  agents  to 
provide  for  the  wishes  of  the  guests.  "  Hello,  agent ; 
get  me  tickets  for  the  Imperial  Theatre" — where  a 
ballet  of  Tschaikowski's  is  to  be  presented  to-night 
by  first-class  talent.  The  theatre  programme,  oblig- 
ingly provided  with  a  French  translation,  informs  us 

27 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

that  among  others,  Kscheschinska  will  do  herself  the 
honor  to  play  the  leading  role.  "  But,  honored  sir, 
that  is  quite  impossible;  first,  because  this  is  the 
carnival  time ;  second,  because  most  of  the  seats  are 
already  subscribed  for;  and  third,  because  Ksches- 
chinska dances  to-night " — a  sly  closing  of  the  left  eye 
accompanies  the  mention  of  the  name — "  and  neither 
the  Emperor  nor  the  court  will  be  absent  from  the 
theatre.  Unless  you  pay  twenty  to  thirty  rubles  to 
a  speculator  you  will  hardly  get  into  the  theatre." 
Since  my  passion  for  the  ballet  or  for  Ksches- 
chinska does  not  attain  the  proportions  of  a  twenty- 
ruble  investment,  I  find  it  preferable  to  devote  the 
evening  to  the  always  interesting  and  fruitful  hotel 
studies.  What  seething  life  in  the  numberless  corri- 
dors, dining-halls,  and  vestibules  of  the  fashionable 
St.  Petersburg  Hotel !  Governors  in  generals'  gold- 
braided  uniforms,  covered  with  so  many  orders  and 
medals  that  it  makes  one  curious  to  find  out  about 
all  the  deeds  of  heroism  for  which  they  were  be- 
stowed; chamberlains  with  refined  elegance  in  their 
gala  dress,  hiding  the  "beau  restes"  of  the  one-sided 
Adonis;  tall,  agile,  dark-eyed  Circassians  with  the 
indispensable  cartridge-pouch  on  the  breast  region 
of  their  long  coats,  with  the  dagger  hanging  in  its 
massive  gold  sheath  from  the  tightly  drawn  belt; 
Cossacks  with  fur  caps  a  foot  high,  made  of  white 
or  black  Angora  skins,  placed  on  their  bristly  heads ; 
a  nimble  Chinese  man,  or  maid,  servant,  with  long 
pigtail,  whose  sex  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish;  a 

28 


ST.  PETERSBURG 

whole  troop  of  dark-eyed  Khivanese  squatting  on 
their  prayer-rugs  before  the  apartment  of  their  khan, 
passing  the  nargile  from  hand  to  hand,  and  exchang- 
ing witticisms  about  the  passing  Europeans ;  beard- 
less Tatar  waiters  shuffling  by  in  their  flat-soled  shoes 
— a  mixture  of  Europe  and  Asia  such  as  may  hard- 
ly be  seen  at  once  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 
The  west  European  merchants  and  other  travellers, 
who  throng  the  hotel,  are  scarcely  noted  among  the 
exotic  appearances.  In  this  hotel,  as  elsewhere 
throughout  St.  Petersburg,  the  European,  the  civil- 
ian, is  seemingly  merely  tolerated.  The  city  be- 
longs to  the  functionaries,  soldiers,  officials,  and 
chamberlains,  to  the  Cossacks,  Circassians,  and, 
above  all  others,  to  the  police.  More  intimate  ac- 
quaintance reveals  that  a  goodly  portion  of  the  uni- 
formed persons  in  St.  Petersburg  are  ordinary  stu- 
dents, technologists,  professors,  etc.,  and  that  these 
uniformed  persons  do  not  equally  represent  the 
state.  On  the  contrary,  the  fight  of  the  state,  or,  to 
be  more  precise,  of  the  police,  against  the  free  pro- 
fessions, would  not  be  so  bitter  if  the  members  of 
the  latter  were  not  entitled  to  wear  uniforms.  As 
it  is,  they  also  may  appear  to  the  common  people  as 
representatives  of  the  Czar's  authority. 

We  slept  through  the  night.  Kind  fate  had  de- 
creed for  us  snow  and  cold  in  succession  to  the  dis- 
agreeable thaw,  and  we  availed  ourselves  of  the 
clear  weather  to  become  acquainted  with  the  bright 
side  of  St.  Petersburg.     And,  first  of  all,  the  snow! 

29 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

It  changes  the  entire  appearance  of  the  city  as  if  by 
a  magic  wand.  The  narrow,  open  carriages  where 
two  persons  can  accommodate  themselves  only  with 
difficulty,  especially  when  wrapped  in  fur  coats, 
have  disappeared.  Their  places  have  been  taken  by 
small,  low  sleighs  without  backs.  The  "izwoz- 
chik"  (driver)  in  his  blue,  plaited  Tatar  fur  coat 
and  multicolored  sash,  with  fur-trimmed  plush  cap 
on  his  head,  sits  almost  in  the  passenger's  lap.  Yet 
there  is  compensation  for  the  meagre  dimensions 
of  the  sleigh.  The  small,  rugged  horses  speed  along 
Hke  arrows  through  the  straight  streets,  hastened 
on  by  the  caressing  words  or  the  exclamations  of 
the  bearded  driver.  Horse,  driver,  and  sleigh  are 
very  essential  figures  in  the  St.  Petersburg  street 
scenes.  We  at  home  cannot  at  all  realize  how 
much  driving  is  done  in  St.  Petersburg.  The  dis- 
tances are  enormous;  streets  five  or  six  kilometres 
long  are  not  unusual.  There  are  almost  no  street- 
car lines,  thanks  to  the  selfishness  of  the  town  rep- 
resentatives, composed  of  St.  Petersburg  house- 
owners,  who  do  not  care  to  see  a  reduction  in  rents 
in  the  central  portion  of  the  town.  The  average 
city  inhabitant  readily  parts  with  the  thirty,  forty, 
or  fifty  kopeks  demanded  by  the  "izwozchik,"  and 
thus  everything  is  rushed  along  in  an  unending 
race.  The  "pravo"  (right)  or  "  hei  beregis!"  (look 
out!),  which  the  drivers  bawl  to  one  another  or  to 
the  pedestrians,  resounds  through  the  streets,  but 
they  are  not  very  effectual.     One  must  open  his 

30 


ST.  PETERSBURG 

eyes  more  than  his  ears  if  he  wishes  to  escape  in- 
jury in  the  streets  of  St.  Petersburg.  The  constant 
racing  often  results  in  four  or  five  rows  of  speeding 
conveyances  attempting  to  pass  one  another.  The 
drivers  with  their  bearded,  apostle  faces,  which  ap- 
pear lamblike  when  they  good-naturedly  invite  you 
to  enter  their  conveyances,  are  like  wild  men  when 
they  let  loose.  Their  Cossack  nature  then  asserts 
itself.  On  and  always  on,  and  let  the  poor  pedes- 
trian take  care  of  his  bones.  And  however  much 
the  little  horse  may  pant  and  the  flakes  of  foam 
may  fly  from  its  sides,  "  his  excellency,"  "  the  coimt," 
"his  highness"  (the  izwozchik  is  extremely  gener- 
ous with  his  titles),  will  surely  add  a  few  kopeks 
when  the  driver  has  been  very  smart;  and  so  the 
little  horse  must  run  until  the  passenger,  unaccus- 
tomed to  such  driving,  loses  his  breath. 

But  the  Russian  barbarian  conception  of  wealth 
and  fashion  is  to  have  his  driver  race  even  when  out 
for  a  pleasure  drive,  as  if  it  were  a  question  of  life 
or  death.  The  numberless  private  turnouts,  dis- 
tinguished by  their  greater  elegance,  their  splendid 
horses,  harness,  liveries,  and  carriages,  have  no  less 
speed  than  the  hackney-coachman,  but  the  reverse, 
at  a  still  greater  speed,  thanks  to  the  elasticity  of 
their  high-stepping  Arab  trotters.  And  now  imagine 
twenty-five  thousand  such  vehicles  simultaneously 
in  racing  motion,  with  here  and  there  a  jingling 
"troika,"  its  two  outer  horses  galloping  madly  and 
the  middle  horse  trotting  furiously;  imagine,  at  the 

31 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

same  time,  the  bright  colors  of  the  four-cornered 
plush  caps  on  the  heads  of  the  stylish  drivers,  the  gay- 
colored  rugs  on  the  "  troikas,"  the  blue  and  green  nets 
on  the  galloping  horses  of  the  private  sleighs,  the 
glitter  of  the  gold  and  silver  harness,  the  scarlet 
coats  of  the  court  coachmen  and  lackeys,  everything 
rushing  along  on  a  crisp  winter  day,  over  the  glim- 
mering, freshly  fallen  snow,  between  the  mighty 
fagades  of  imposing  structures,  flanked  by  an  almost 
imbroken  chain  of  tall  policeman  and  gendarmes,  and 
you  have  the  picture  of  the  heart  of  St.  Petersburg 
at  the  time  of  social  activity.  Splendor,  riches, 
wildness  are  all  caricatured  into  magnificence  as  if 
calculated  to  impress  and  to  frighten.  Woe  to  him 
here  who  is  not  of  the  masters ! 


ST.    PETERSBURG — CONTINUED 

ST.  PETERSBURG  is  an  act  of  violence.  I 
have  never  received  in  any  city  such  an  im- 
pression of  the  forced  and  the  unnatural  as  in  this 
colossal  prison  or  fortress  of  the  Russia's  mighty 
rule.  The  Neva,  around  whose  islands  the  city  is 
clustered,  is  really  not  a  stream.  It  comes  from  no- 
where and  leads  nowhere.  It  is  the  efflux  of  the 
Heaven-forsaken  Ladoga  Lake,  where  no  one  has 
occasion  to  search  for  anything ;  and  it  leads  into  the 
Bay  of  Finland,  which  is  frozen  throughout  half  of 
the  year.  No  commercial  considerations,  not  even 
strategical  reasons,  can  justify  the  establishment  of 
this  capital  at  the  mouth  of  the  Neva.  The  fact 
that  St.  Petersburg  has  none  the  less  become  a  city 
of  millions  of  inhabitants  is  due  entirely  to  the  bar- 
baric energy  of  its  founder,  Peter  the  Great,  an  en- 
ergy which  still  works  in  the  plastic  medium  of 
Russian  national  character.  On  the  bank  of  the 
Neva  stands  the  equestrian  statue  of  Peter,  raised  on 
a  mighty  block  of  granite,  a  notable  work  of  the 
Frenchman  Falconet.  The  face  of  the  Emperor  as 
he  ascends  the  rock  is  turned  to  the  northwest,  where 
3  Z3 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

his  most  dangerous  rival,  the  Swedish  Charles,  lived. 
And  just  as  his  whole  attitude  expresses  defiance 
and  self-conscious  power,  so  his  city,  St.  Petersburg, 
is  only  a  monument  of  the  defiance  and  the  iron  will 
of  its  founder.  The  liistorians  relate  that  Peter 
intended,  by  removing  his  residence  to  St.  Peters- 
burg, to  facilitate  the  access  of  European  civiliza- 
tion to  the  Russian  people.  If  this  be  true,  Peter 
utterly  failed  in  his  purpose.  The  old  commercial 
city,  Riga,  would  have  answered  the  purpose  much 
better.  To  be  sure,  Riga  did  not  come  into  Russian 
possession  until  eighteen  years  after  the  founding  of 
St.  Petersburg.  Yet  what  was  there  to  prevent  the 
despot  from  abandoning  the  work  that  he  had  be- 
gun? But  no,  St.  Petersburg  was  to  bid  defiance 
to  the  contemporary  might  of  Sweden,  and  so  forty 
thousand  men  had  to  work  for  years  in  the  swamps 
of  the  Neva  to  build  the  mighty  tyrant's  castles,  the 
Peter-and-Paul  fortress,  an  immense  stone  block  on 
the  banks  of  the  icy  stream.  Malarial  fevers  car- 
ried off  most  of  them ;  but  the  Russian  people  sup- 
plied more  men,  for  such  was  the  will  of  the  Czar. 
The  drinking-water  of  St.  Petersburg  to-day  is  still 
a  yellow,  filthy  fluid,  consumption  of  which  is  sure 
to  bring  on  typhoid  fever ;  but  the  will  of  Peter  still 
works,  and  St.  Petersburg  remains  the  capital. 

Peter,  with  his  peculiar  blending  of  political  su- 
premacy and  democratic  fancifulness,  built  for  him- 
self a  little  house  on  the  fortress  island,  where  the 
fumitiire  made  by  himself  is  still  preserved  by  the 

34 


ST.  PETERSBURG 

side  of  the  miracle-working  image  of  the  Redeemer 
which  the  despot  ahvays  carried  with  him.  His 
spirit  soars  over  this  city  and  tliis  land.  What  he 
did  not  entirely  trust  to  his  unscrupulous  fist  he  left 
in  honest  bigotry  to  the  bones  of  the  holy  Alexander 
Nevski,  which  he  had  brought  to  his  capital  soon 
after  its  establishment.  Autocracy  and  popocracy 
still  reign  in  the  Russian  empire.  The  Peter-and- 
Paul  fortress,  in  the  subterranean  vaults  of  which 
many  of  the  noblest  hearts  and  heads  of  Russia 
have  found  their  grave,  the  Isaac  cathedral,  with  its 
barbarian  pomp  of  gold  and  precious  stones,  and  the 
mighty  monoliths — these  are  the  symbols  of  the  city 
of  St,  Petersburg  and  of  its  regime.  If  there  is  in 
Russia,  even  among  the  enlightened  minds,  some- 
thing like  a  fanatical  hatred  of  civilization  and  of 
the  West,  it  is  due  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
half  -  barbarian  Peter  imposed  Western  ideas  and 
civilization  on  a  harmless  and  good  -  natured  peo- 
ple. 

What  brutal  power  of  will  may  do  in  defiance  of 
unfriendly  nature  has  been  done  on  the  banks  of 
the  Neva.  Indeed,  its  green  waters  are  now  hidden 
b}'-  an  ice-crust  three  feet  thick,  over  which  the 
sleighs  run  a  race  with  the  little  cars  of  the  electrical 
railway.  Yet  even  without  the  restless  shimmer  of 
the  water  the  view  of  the  river-bank  is  still  very  im- 
pressive. The  golden  glitter  of  the  great  cupolas  of 
the  Isaac  cathedral,  the  long  red  front  of  the  Winter 
Palace,  the  pale  yellow  columns  of  the  admiralty, 

35 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

between    Renaissance   structures,    stand   out   from 
among  the  rest. 

Palaces  and  palaces  stretch  along  the  stream 
right  up  to  the  Field  of  Mars.  The  gilded  spire  of 
the  Peter-and-Paul  cathedral  pierces  the  white-blue 
sky  and  greets,  with  its  angel  balanced  on  the  ex- 
treme spire,  the  equally  grotesque  high  spire  of  the 
admiralty.  Great  stone  and  iron  bridges  span  the 
broad  stream,  its  opposite  shore  almost  faded  in  the 
light  mist  of  the  wintry  day.  Walking  towards  the 
middle  of  the  bridge,  whence  a  splendid  view  may 
be  obtained,  one  sees  the  long  row  of  buildings 
on  the  farther  islands  standing  out  of  the  mist. 
One  row  of  columns  is  followed  by  another — ^the 
Academy  of  Arts,  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  the 
house  of  Menschikov,  which  Catherine  built  for 
her  favorite,  come  into  view.  Towards  the  west  the 
hulls  of  vessels  stand  out  from  among  the  docks. 
Still  farther  out  the  mist  hides  the  shoals  of  the 
Neva,  together  with  those  of  the  Gulf  of  Finland, 
in  an  impenetrable  gray.  Towards  the  north 
stretch  the  endless  lanes  with  their  bare  branches 
which  lead  to  the  islands.  This  is  the  Bois  de 
Boulogne  of  St.  Petersburg,  where  the  gilded  youth 
race  in  brightly  decorated  "troikas,"  and  hasten  to 
squander  in  champagne,  at  cards,  and  in  gypsy  en- 
tertainments, the  wages  of  the  starved  muzhik.  It 
is  a  magnificent  picture  of  power,  of  self-conscious 
riches,  the  better  part  of  which  is  furnished  by  the 
mighty  stream  itself. 

36 


ST.  PETERSBURG 

It  is  easy  now  to  realize  that  St.  Petersburg  was 
originally  planned  for  a  seaport,  and  that  it  therefore 
presents  its  glittering  front  to  the  sea.  The  rail- 
roads which  conduct  the  traffic  to-day  could  no 
longer  penetrate  with  their  stations  into  the  city 
proper;  hence  the  visitors  must  first  pass  through 
the  broad,  melancholy  suburban  girdle  which  gives 
one  the  impression  of  a  giant  village.  When  access 
to  the  city  was  still  by  boat  from  the  Gulf  of  Finland, 
the  landing  at  the  "  English  quay,"  with  its  view  of 
all  these  colossal  structures,  golden  domes  and 
spires,  must  have  created  a  powerful  impression. 
Nothing  less  was  contemplated  by  this  massing  of 
palaces.  The  capital  and  residence  city  was  not  in- 
tended to  facilitate  the  access  of  the  West  but  rather 
to  inspire  it  with  awe. 

The  splendor  of  the  city  naturally  becomes  grad- 
ually diminished  from  the  banks  of  the  Neva  tow- 
ards the  vast  periphery.  The  main  artery  of  traffic 
in  St.  Petersburg,  the  "  Nevski  Prospect,"  and  its 
continuation,  the  "  Bolshaya  Morskaya,"  remain 
stately  and  impressive  to  their  very  end.  A  peculiar 
feature  of  St.  Petersburg  is  the  numerous  canals 
which  begin  and  end  at  the  Neva,  and  which  once 
served  to  drain  the  swampy  soil  of  the  city.  They 
are  now  to  be  filled,  for  they  do  not  answer  the 
purpose.  Nevertheless,  they  offer  meanwhile  an 
opportunity  for  pretty  bridge  structures,  as,  for 
instance,  the  one  leading  over  the  Fontanka,  orna- 
mented with  the  four  groups  of  the  horse-tamers  by 

37 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

Baron  Klodt.  A  comparison  with  the  lagoon  city, 
Venice,  would  really  be  a  flattering  hyperbole,  for 
one  does  not  get  the  impression  here  of  being  on  the 
sea,  as  in  the  case  of  the  "  Canal-Grande."  The  city 
rather  reminds  one  of  the  models  that  were  nearer 
to  its  founder,  the  canal-furrowed  cities  of  Holland. 
Still,  these  canals  are  a  pleasant  diversion  in  the 
otherwise  monotonous  pictures  of  the  city  streets. 

Should  it  be  mentioned  here  that  St.  Petersburg 
has  its  " millionnaya "  (millionaire's  street)?  It  is 
well  known  that  hither  and  towards  Moscow  flow 
the  treasures  of  a  country  squeezed  dry.  The  great 
wealth  of  the  one  almost  presupposes  the  nameless 
misery  of  the  other.  The  indifference  with  which 
the  shocking  famine  conditions  of  entire  provinces 
and  the  threatening  economic  collapse  of  the  whole 
empire  are  regarded  here  finds  its  explanation  only 
in  the  bearing  of  these  boyar-millionaires,  who  con- 
sider themselves  Europeans  because  their  valets  are 
shaved  in  the  English  fashion. 

The  eye  of  the  stranger  who  wishes  to  understand, 
and  not  merely  to  gaze,  will  rather  turn  to  other 
phenomena  more  characteristic  than  splendid  build- 
ings of  the  country  and  its  people. 

There  is,  in  the  first  place,  the  pope  (priest),  and 
then  the  policeman. 

The  priests  and  the  policemen  are  the  handsomest 
persons  in  St.  Petersburg.  Although  the  flowing 
hair  of  the  bearded  priest,  reaching  to  his  shoulders, 
is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  characteristic  peculiarity, 

38 


ST.    PETERSBURG 

since  every  third  man  in  Russia  displays  long  hair 
or  profuse  locks  that  would  undoubtedly  draw  to 
their  fortunate  possessor  in  our  land  the  attention 
of  the  street  boys,  still  they  are  carefully  chosen 
human  material,  tall,  graceful  men  with  handsome 
heads  and  proud  mien.  Notwithstanding  this  they 
are  accorded  but  little  reverence  even  among  the 
bigoted  Russians,  for  no  matter  how  often  and  co- 
piously these  may  cross  themselves  before  every 
sacred  image,  they  qmte  often  experience,  behind  the 
priest,  a  sort  of  salvation  which  compels  them  sud- 
denly to  empty  their  mouths  in  a  very  demonstra- 
tive manner.  This  may  be  due  to  various  kinds  of 
superstition,  which  regard  the  meeting  with  a  priest 
as  very  undesirable,  but  it  finds  its  explanation  also 
in  the  not  always  exemplary  life  of  this  servant  of 
the  Lord.  He  is  especially  accredited  with  a  de- 
cided predilection  for  various  distilled  liquors  that 
at  times  exert  a  doubtful  influence  on  a  man's  be- 
havior. One  may  see  in  St.  Petersburg  men 
wrapped  in  costly  sable  furs  make  the  acquaintance 
of  the  street  pavements,  especially  during  the  "but- 
ter-week," yet  for  spiritual  garments  the  gutter  is 
even  less  a  place  of  legitimate  rest,  and,  at  any  rate, 
it  is  difficult  to  acknowledge  as  the  appointed  in- 
terpreter of  God's  will  a  man  whose  mouth  savors 
of  an  entirely  different  spirit  than  the  "spiritus 
sanctus." 

For  all  this,  however,  the  Russian  is  filled,  out- 
wardly at  least,  and  during  divine  services,  with  a 

39 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

devotion  which,  to  us,  is  scarcely  comprehensible. 
With  fanatical  fervor  he  kisses  in  church  the  hand 
of  the  same  priest  behind  whose  back  he  spat  at  the 
church  door.  His  body  never  rests.  As  with  the 
orthodox  Jew  and  the  howling  dervish,  his  praying 
consists  in  an  almost  unceasing  bowing,  and  a  not 
at  all  inconsiderable  application  of  gymnastics.  He 
is  perpetually  crossing  himself.  Particularly  fervent 
suppliants,  of  the  female  gender  especially,  can  hard- 
ly satisfy  themselves  by  kissing  again  and  again  the 
stone  flags  of  the  floor,  the  hem  of  the  priest's  coat, 
the  sacred  images,  and  the  numberless  relics.  But 
how  effective  and  mind-ensnaring  is  the  orthodox 
church  service.  The  glimmer  of  the  innumerable 
small  and  large  wax  candles  brought  by  most  of  the 
congregants  fills  the  golden  mist  of  the  place  with 
an  unearthly  light.  Rubies,  emeralds,  and  dia- 
monds shine  from  the  silver  and  gold  crowns  on  the 
sacred  images.  The  gigantic  priest  in  his  gold-em- 
broidered vestments  lets  sound  his  deep,  powerful, 
bass  voice,  and  wonderful  choirs  answer  him  from 
both  sides  of  the  "ikonostas."  Clouds  of  incense 
float  through  the  high  nave.  The  faithful,  ranged 
one  after  another,  intoxicate  and  carry  one  another 
by  their  devotion — a  huge  general  hypnosis  in  which 
education  and  priestly  art  are  equally  concerned. 
The  orthodox  cult  is  not  to  be  compared,  at  least 
in  my  opinion,  with  that  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in 
the  depth  and  nobility  of  the  music  and  in  the  artis- 
tic arrangement  of  the  service.     But  in  its  archaic 

40 


ST.  PETERSBURG 

monotony,  in  its  use  of  the  coarsest  material  stimuli, 
it  is  perhaps  even  more  suggestive  for  the  Eastern 
masses  than  is  the  other  for  the  civilized  peoples  of 
the  West.  The  quantity  of  gold,  silver,  and  pre- 
cious stones  offered  up,  especially  in  the  Isaac 
cathedral  and  in  the  Kazan  cathedral — fashioned 
after  that  of  St.  Peter's  in  Rome — to  give  the  faith- 
ful a  conception  of  the  just  claims  of  Heaven  on 
treasure  and  reverence,  is  beyond  the  belief  of  Euro- 
peans. The  artistically  excellent  silver  ornaments 
of  the  Isaac  cathedral  weigh  not  less  than  eleven 
thousand  kilograms.  A  single  copy  of  the  New- 
Testament  is  bound  in  twenty  kilograms  of  gold. 
The  sacred  image  made  in  commemoration  of  the 
catastrophe  of  Borki  is  almost  entirely  covered  with 
diamonds.  These  endowments  came,  for  the  most 
part,  from  members  of  the  imperial  house.  The 
union  of  church  and  state  is  more  intimate  here  than 
elsewhere,  and,  apparently,  even  more  profitable 
for  the  guardians  of  the  altar.  Among  all  the  sacred 
relics  and  trophies  of  the  St.  Petersburg  church,  one 
impresses  the  foreigner  above  the  others.  It  is  a 
collection  of  silver  gifts  from  the  French,  ranged 
along  the  wall  of  the  Peter-and-Paul  cathedral. 
By  the  side  of  the  coffms  of  the  Russian  emperors 
and  empresses,  from  Peter  the  Great  to  Alexander 
III.,  which  one  cannot  pass  without  a  peculiar  feel- 
ing of  historical  respect,  under  innumerable  flags 
and  war  trophies,  there  stand,  as  the  greatest  tri- 
umph that  the  despotic  barbarian  state  has  won 

41 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

from  civilized  Europe,  the  silver  crowns  and  the 
shields  of  honor  which  Felix  Faure,  Casimir-Perier, 
the  senate,  the  chamber,  and  the  Parisian  press  pre- 
sented to  the  Russian  ally  of  France. 

"You  see  here  the  greatest  misfortune  that  has 
befallen  us  in  this  century,"  said  my  companion,  an 
orthodox  Russian  of  nothing  less  than  radical  views. 
"  Until  then,  until  this  alliance,  with  all  our  boastful- 
ness  we  still  felt  some  shame  before  Europe  for  our 
barbarous  and  shameful  rule.  But  since  the  most 
distinguished  men  and  corporations  of  the  most  en- 
lightened republic  have  begun  prostrating  them- 
selves before  us,  the  knout  despotism  has  received 
the  consecration  of  Europe  and  has  thrown  all  shame 
to  the  winds." 

"  But  the  French  have  lent  you  eight  milliards 
for  it,"  I  replied. 

"A  part  of  which  has  gone  into  Heaven  knows 
whose  pockets ;  the  other  supports  our  police  against 
us,  and  the  remainder  was  sunk  in  a  worthless  rail- 
road, while  we,  in  order  to  provide  the  interest,  must 
take  the  horse  from  our  peasant's  plough  and  the 
cow  from  its  stable,  until  even  that  shall  come 
to  an  end,  for  nothing  else  will  be  left  for  the  ex- 
ecutor." 

"A  Jesuit  trick,"  I  said.  "You  owe  the  alliance 
to  the  diplomacy  of  Rampolla." 

"The  sword  and  the  holy -water  sprinkler,"  an- 
swered the  Russian,  as  he  pointed  his  hand  in  a  cir- 
cle from  the  war  trophies  to  the  "  ikonostas,"  "  they 

42 


ST.  PETERSBURG 

go  evennyhere  hand-in-hand  and  enslave  and  plun- 
der the  nations." 

The  leaden,  snowy  skies  looked  down  on  us  op- 
pressively as  with  a  deep  shudder  at  the  prison  grat- 
ings of  the  Peter-and-Paul  fortress  we  hastened  back 
to  the  city.  I  heard  in  my  mind  the  notes  of  the 
"  j\larseillaise,"  and  before  my  eyes  there  stood  the 
gifts  of  honor  from  the  French  nation  brought  to 
the  despot  of  the  fortress.  They  are  very  near  each 
other,  cathedral  and  prison.  In  the  still  of  the 
night  the  watchman  of  the  French  offerings  may 
often  hear  the  groans  and  the  despairing  cries  of  the 
poor  souls  who  had  dreamed  of  freedom  and  brother- 
hood and  had  paid  for  their  dreams  behind  the  heavy 
iron  bars,  deep  under  the  mirror-like  surface  of  the 
Neva,  in  the  dungeons  of  the  Peter-and-Paul  fortress. 


VI 

ARTIST   AND    PROFESSOR — ILYA   RYEPIN 

SHOULD  some  one  assert  that  there  is  a  great 
artist  in  a  European  capital,  honored  by  an 
entire  nation  as  its  very  greatest  master,  yet,  never- 
theless, not  even  known  by  name  among  the  great 
European  public,  we  should  shake  our  heads  unbe- 
lievingly, for  such  a  phenomenon  is  impossible  in 
our  age  of  railroads  and  printer's-ink.  And  yet  this 
assertion  would  be  literally  true.  There  is  such  a 
great  artist  living  in  a  city  of  a  million  inhabitants, 
and  recognized  by  millions,  yet  of  his  works  even 
art-students  outside  of  Russia  have  seen  but  one  or 
two.  To  make  this  even  more  incomprehensible, 
it  should  be  stated  that  this  artist  had  attained  re- 
nown in  his  country  not  merely  a  few  years  ago,  but 
has  created  masterpiece  after  masterpiece  for  more 
than  thirty  years;  indeed,  his  first  picture  at  the 
world's  fair  in  Vienna  in  1873  was  generally  rec- 
ognized as  startling.  Nevertheless,  the  name  of  the 
master  has  long  been  forgotten  on  our  side  of  the 
Vistula;  it  may  be  because  no  one  found  it  to  his 
interest  to  advertise  him  and  thus  to  create  compe- 
tition for  others,  but  more  probably  because  Russia 

44 


ARTIST    AND    PROFESSOR 

is  a  separate  world  and  isolates  itself  from  the  rest 
of  Europe  with  almost  barbaric  insolence. 

There  is,  however,  some  advantage  for  Russia  in 
this  isolation  from  the  "rotten  West."  They  are 
not  obliged  to  pass  through  all  the  various  phases 
of  our  so-called  art  movement,  and  therefore  are 
not  carried  from  one  extreme  to  the  other,  but  calm- 
ly pursue  their  own  quiet  way.  They  also  had  the 
good  -  fortune,  while  the  rest  of  Europe  was  in  a 
state  of  conflict  over  unfruitful  theories,  to  possess 
really  great  creative  artists,  always  the  best  anti- 
dote against  doctrinarianism.  When  the  one-sided, 
methodically  proletarian  naturalism  reigned  in  the 
West,  itself  a  protest  against  the  shallow  idealistic 
formalism  of  the  preceding  decades,  Russian  litera- 
ture possessed  its  greatest  realistic  poets,  Tolstoi, 
Turgenyev,  Dostoyevski,  who  never  overlooked  the 
inner  process,  the  true  themes  of  poetical  creation, 
for  the  sake  of  outward  appearances,  and  have 
thereby  created  that  incomparable,  physiological 
realism  that  we  still  lack.  And  because  their  great 
realists  were  poets,  great  poets  and  geniuses,  they 
felt  no  need  of  a  new  drawing-room  art,  which  of  ne- 
cessity goes  to  the  other  extreme,  the  romantic,  aris- 
tocratic, catholic.  They  had  no  Zola,  and  therefore 
they  needed  no  Maeterlinck.  And  it  was  exactly  so 
with  their  painting.  Their  great  artists  did  not  lose 
themselves,  like  Manet  and  his  school,  in  problems 
purely  of  light  and  air  without  poetical  contents; 
hence  to  rediscover  poetry  and  to  save  it  for  art 

45 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

there  was  no  need  for  Preraphaelites  or  Decadents. 
The  great  painter  is  artist,  man,  and  poet,  a  phe- 
nomenon Hke  Leo  Tolstoi,  therefore  the  few  sym- 
bolists who  believe  they  must  imitate  European 
fashions  make  no  headway  against  them. 

Imitators  can  only  exist  among  imitators,  by  the 
side  of  nature's  imitators,  imitators  of  Raphael's 
predecessors. 

A  single  true  artist  frightens  away  all  the  ghosts 
of  the  night,  and  thus  decadence  plays  an  insignifi- 
cant role  alongside  of  Tolstoi  and  Ryepin,  whether 
it  be  the  decadent  literature  of  Huysmans  and 
Maeterlinck,  or  the  decadence  of  the  Neoromanticists 
and  of  the  Neoidealists. 

It  is  time,  however,  to  speak  of  the  artist  himself, 
an  artist  of  sixty,  still  in  the  fulness  of  power,  who, 
besides  wielding  the  brush,  occupies  a  professor's 
chair  at  the  St.  Petersburg  Academy.  I  have  just 
called  him  professor.  He  is  more  than  that,  he  is, 
like  Leo  Tolstoi,  a  revolutionist,  the  terrible  accuser 
of  the  two  diabolical  forces  that  keep  the  nation  in 
its  course,  the  church  and  the  despotism  of  govern- 
ment. But,  to  the  honor  of  the  Russian  dynasty 
be  it  said,  this  artist,  acknowledged  to  be  the  great- 
est of  his  country,  was  never  "induced"  to  cast 
aside  the  criticism  of  the  prevailing  system  he  made 
by  his  painting  and  to  engage  in  the  decorative 
court  art.  His  so-called  nihilist  pictures,  reproduc- 
tion of  which  has  been  prohibited  by  the  police,  are 
for  the  most  part  in  the  possession  of  grand-dukes, 

46 


ARTIST    AND    PROFESSOR 

and,  notwithstanding  his  undisguised  opinions,  he 
was  intinisted  with  the  painting  of  the  imperial 
council  representing  the  Czar  in  the  midst  of  his 
councillors.  The  czars  have  always  been  more  lib- 
eral than  their  administrators.  Nicholas  1.  prized 
Gogol's  "Revizor"  above  all  else,  and  Nicholas  II. 
is  the  greatest  admirer  of  Tolstoi.  And  so  Ryepin 
may  paint  whatever  and  however  he  will.  And  we 
shall  see  that  he  makes  proper  use  of  this  oppor- 
tunity. He  is  Russian,  and  notliing  but  Russian. 
At  twenty- two  he  received  for  his  work,  "  The  Awak- 
ening of  Jairus's  Little  Daughter,"  an  academic  prize 
and  a  travelling  fellowship  for  a  number  of  years. 
But  before  the  expiration  of  the  appointed  time 
spent  by  him  in  Berlin  and  Paris  he  returned  to 
Russia,  and  produced  in  1873  liis  "  Burlaks"  (barge- 
towers),  which  attracted  great  attention  at  the 
Vienna  exposition.  The  thirty  years  that  have 
passed  since  then  have  detracted  nothing  from  the 
painting.  How  far  surpassed  do  Manet's  "revo- 
lutionizing" works  already  appear  to  us,  and  still 
how  indelibly  fresh  these  "barge-towers."  That  is 
so.  The  reason  is  simple — it  is  no  painting  of  theory 
but  of  nature  represented  as  the  individual  sees  it, 
the  masterly  impression  of  an  artist,  the  most  con- 
centrated effect  of  landscape,  light,  and  action. 
The  purely  technical  problem  is  subordinated  to  the 
whole,  to  the  unity  of  action  and  mood,  solved  nat- 
urally and  easily.  The  problem  of  the  artist  to  tell 
us  what  we  cannot  forget,  to  give  us  something  of 

47 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

his  soul,  his  sentiments,  his  thoughts,  is  of  first  im- 
portance, just  as  geniuses  of  all  ages  cared  less  to 
be  thought  masters  of  technique  than  to  win  friends, 
fellow-thinkers,  and  comrades,  to  share  their  joys 
and  feelings.  From  the  purely  technical  stand- 
point, where  is  there  a  painting  that  presents  in  a 
more  masterly  manner  the  glimmer  of  sunlight  on 
the  surface  of  a  broad  stream — as  in  this  case — and 
where,  nevertheless,  the  landscape  is  treated  merely 
as  the  backgroimd  ?  And  again,  where  is  the  action 
of  twelve  men  wearily  plodding  onward,  drawing  with 
rhythmic  step  the  boat  against  the  stream,  seized 
more  forcibly,  more  suggestively  than  in  this  plain- 
tive song  of  the  Russian  people's  soul? 

The  youth  of  barely  twenty-four  years  had  at  one 
leap  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  all  contemporary 
artists.  Analogies  between  him  and  the  artistic 
career  and  method  of  Leo  Tolstoi  force  themselves 
on  us  again  and  again.  Tolstoi's  Sketches  from  the 
Caucasus,  Sevastopol,  Cossacks,  are  his  early  works, 
yet  they  are  the  most  wonderful  that  the  entire 
prose  of  all  literature  can  show.  And  so  it  is  in  this 
lifelike  picture  of  a  twenty-four-year-old  youth. 
Had  we  no  other  work  of  his  than  the  "  Barge-tow- 
ers," we  should  yet  see  in  him  a  great  master.  It 
is  but  necessary  to  look  at  the  feet  of  these  twelve 
wretched  toilers  to  realize  with  wonder  the  charac- 
terization, the  full  measure  of  which  is  given  only  to 
genius.  How  they  strain  against  the  ground  and 
almost  dig  into  the  rock !     How  the  bodies  are  bent 

48 


ARTIST    AND    PROFESSOR 

forward  in  the  broad  belt  that  holds  the  tow-line! 
What  an  old,  sad  melody  is  this  to  which  these  bare- 
footed men  keep  step  as  they  struggle  up  along  the 
stream?  In  all  his  barefoot  stories  of  the  ancient 
sorrow  of  the  steppe  children,  Gorki  has  not  painted 
with  greater  insight.  A  sorrowful  picture  for  all  its 
sunshine,  and  the  more  sorrowful  because  no  ten- 
dency is  made  evident.  It  means  seeing,  seeing  with 
the  eyes  and  with  the  heart,  and,  therefore,  it  is  art. 
It  would  be  wrong,  however,  to  say  that  Ryepin — 
in  his  works  as  a  whole  if  not  in  a  given  instance — 
has  introduced  a  "tendency"  in  his  choice  of  solely 
sorrowful  subjects.  Such  is  not  the  case.  There 
is  nothing  more  exuberant,  more  convulsing  than 
his  large  painting,  "  Cossacks  Preparing  a  Humorous 
Reply  to  a  Threatening  Letter  of  Mohammed  III." 
The  answer  could  not  have  been  very  respectful. 
That  may  be  seen  from  the  sarcastic  expression  of 
the  intelligent  scribe  as  well  as  from  the  effect  that 
his  wit  has  on  the  martial  environment.  A  be- 
mustached  old  fellow  in  a  white  lamb-skin  cap  holds 
his  big  belly  for  laughing ;  another  almost  falls  over 
backward,  his  bald  pate  quite  jumping  out  of  the 
canvas.  One  snaps  his  fingers;  another,  old  and 
toothless,  grins  with  joy ;  a  third  pounds  with  clinch- 
ed fist  on  the  almost  bare  back  of  his  neighbor;  an- 
other shuts  his  right  eye  as  if  perceiving  a  doubtful 
odor ;  one  with  a  great  tooth-gap  shouts  aloud,  while 
others  smile  in  quiet  joy  through  the  smoke  of  their 
short  pipes.  All  these  are  crowded  around  a  primi- 
4  49 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

tive  wooden  table  scarcely  a  metre  wide;  twenty 
figures,  a  natural  group,  one  head  hiding  another, 
and  with  all  you  have  an  unobstructed  view  of  the 
camp  lying  bright  in  the  sunshine  and  dust  and  full 
of  horses  and  men.  The  effect  of  the  picture  is  so 
overpowering  that  at  the  mere  recollection  of  it  you 
can  scarcely  refrain  from  joining  in  the  hearty 
laughter  of  these  sturdy,  untutored  natures.  In 
the  entire  range  of  modern  painting  there  is  no  other 
picture  so  full  of  the  strong  joy  of  living. 

"The  Village  Procession,"  preserved  in  the  Tre- 
tyakov  Gallery  in  Moscow— the  finest  collection  of 
the  master's  works — is  not  gloomy  like  the  mourn- 
ful song  of  the  "  Barge- towers,"  nor  exuberant  with 
serf  arrogance  and  vitality  like  the  Cossack  camp, 
but  a  fragment  of  the  colorless  Russian  national  life 
as  it  really  is,  a  sorrowful  human  document  for  the 
thoughtful  observer  alone.  Tattered  muzhiks  in 
fur  coats  are  carrying  on  poles  a  heavy  sacred  image, 
and  behind  them  crowds  the  village  populace  with 
flags  and  crucifixes.  I  will  not  again  emphasize  how 
masterfully  everything  is  noted  here,  from  the  gold 
border  of  the  sacred  image  to  the  last  bit  of  dusty 
sunshine  on  the  village  street.  Absolute  mastery 
is  self-evident  in  Ryepin's  work.  We  are  again  at- 
tracted in  this  picture  by  the  great  intensity  of 
mood.  What  harmony  there  is  in  it — the  mounted 
gendarme  who  pitilessly  strikes  with  his  knout  into 
the  peasant  group  to  make  room  for  the  priests 
and  the  local  officials;  the  half -idiotic,  greasy  sex- 

50 


ARTIST    AND    PROFESSOR 

ton;  the  well-fed,  bearded  priest;  the  crowd  of  the 
abandoned,  the  crippled,  and  the  maimed,  the 
brutalized  peasants,  the  old  women  A  long  pro- 
cession of  folly,  brutaHty,  official  darkness,  igno- 
rance; a  chapter  from  the  might  of  darkness;  the 
crucifix  misused  as  an  aid  to  the  knout,  a  symbol  of 
the  Russian  regime  that  could  not  be  held  up  to 
scorn  more  passionately  by  any  demagogue;  and 
yet  only  a  street-scene  which  would  hardly  strike 
the  Moscow  merchant  when  strolling  in  the  gallery 
of  a  Sunday,  because  of  its  freedom  from  any  "  ten- 
dency." 

Then  comes  a  work  of  an  entirely  different  char- 
acter, a  tragedy  of  Shakespearean  force,  a  painting 
that  is  red  on  red.  Ivan  the  Terrible  holds  in  his 
arms  the  son  he  has  just  stricken  to  death  with  his 
heavy  staff.  It  is  a  horrible  scene  from  which  one 
turns  because  of  the  almost  unbearable  misery  de- 
picted there,  and  yet  you  return  to  it  again  and 
again.  So  great  is  the  conception,  so  wonderful  the 
insight,  so  incomparable  the  technique.  The  mad- 
man, whom  a  nation  of  slaves  endures  as  its  master, 
is  at  last  overtaken  by  Nemesis,  and  he  is  truly  an 
object  for  pity  as  he  crouches  on  the  ground  with 
the  body  of  his  dying  son  in  his  arms.  He  would 
stanch  the  blood  that  is  streaming  from  the  gaping 
wound  to  the  red  carpet.  He  kisses  the  hair  where 
but  a  moment  before  his  club  had  struck.  The  tears 
flow  from  his  horrified  eyes,  and  their  terror  is  aug- 
mented, for  at  this  last  and  perhaps  first  caress  of 

51 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

the  terrible  father  a  happy  smile  plays  on  the  face  of 
the  dying  son.  He  had  killed  his  son!  Nothing 
can  save  him !  He  the  Czar  of  Moscow,  the  master 
of  the  Kremlin,  can  do  nothing.  He  draws  his  son 
to  himself,  presses  him  to  his  breast,  to  his  lips. 
What  had  he  done  in  his  anger,  that  anger  so  often 
a  source  of  joy  to  him  when  he  struck  others  less 
near  to  him  and  for  which  he  had  been  lauded  by  his 
servile  courtiers,  since  the  Czar  must  be  stem,  a 
terrible  and  unrelenting  master  ? 

Shakespeare  has  nothing  more  thrilling  than  this 
single  work,  its  effect  so  tragic  because  the  artist 
has  succeeded  in  awakening  our  pity  for  this  fiend, 
pity  which  is  the  deliverance  from  hatred  and  re- 
sentment. The  pity  that  seizes  us  is  identical  with 
the  awe  of  the  deepest  faith,  the  feeling  of  Christian 
forgiveness.  We  can  have  no  resentment  towards 
this  sorrow-crushed  old  man  wdth  the  torn,  thin, 
white  hair.  And  we  can  never  quite  forget  the  look 
in  these  glassy  old  eyes  from  which  the  bitter  tears 
are  gushing,  the  first  that  the  monster  had  ever  shed. 
And  how  the  picture  is  painted,  the  red  of  the  blood 
contrasting  with  the  red  of  the  Persian  rug  and  the 
green-red  of  the  tapestry.  Nothing  else  is  seen  on 
the  floor  except  an  overturned  chair.  The  figures 
of  the  father,  and  of  the  son  raising  himself  for  the 
last  time,  alone  in  all  the  vast  space,  hold  the  gaze 
of  the  spectator.  With  this  painting  hanging  in 
the  ruler's  palace  the  death-sentence  would  never 
be  signed  again. 

52 


ARTIST    AND    PROFESSOR 

Still  another  ghastly  picture  shows  that  the  artist, 
like  all  great  masters,  is  not  held  back  by  affectation 
and  feels  equal  to  any  emergency.  It  represents 
Sophia,  the  sister  of  Peter  the  Great,  who  from  her 
prison  is  made  to  witness  the  hanging  of  her  faithful 
"streltzy"  (sharp-shooters)  before  her  windows.  It 
was  a  brotherly  mark  of  consideration  shown  her 
by  the  Czar.  The  resemblance  of  the  princess  to  her 
brother  is  striking ;  but  the  expression  of  pain,  anger, 
and  fear  on  the  stony  face  turned  green  and  yellow 
is  really  terrifying.  But  it  is  also  characteristic  of 
the  great  master  to  have  chosen  just  that  incident 
in  the  life  of  the  great  Czar. 

In  general  it  must  be  said  that  for  a  professor  in 
the  imperial  academy  the  choice  of  historical  sub- 
jects is  curious  enough.  It  certainly  does  not  indi- 
cate loyalty. 

I  could  not  if  I  would  discuss  in  detail  the  fruits 
of  thirty  years  of  the  artist's  activity.  Besides, 
mere  words  cannot  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
beauty  of  his  works.  But  there  is  one  thing  that 
may  be  accomplished  by  the  description  of  his  most 
important  painting — namely,  the  refutation  of  the 
absurd  notion  that  the  artist  and  his  art  can  become 
important  only  when  they  are  entirely  indifferent  to 
the  joys  and  sorrows  of  their  fellow-men  and  con- 
cern solely  the  solution  of  artistic  problems.  The 
doctrine  of  art  for  art's  sake  has  no  more  determined 
opponents  than  the  great  artists  of  our  time,  and 
among  them  also  Ryepin  in  the  front  rank.     He  is 

53 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

willing  to  subscribe  to  it  just  as  far  as  every  artist 
must  seek  to  influence  only  by  means  of  his  own 
peculiar  art;  yet  he  rejects  the  absurdity  that  it  is 
immaterial  for  the  greatness  of  the  artist  whether 
he  depicts  the  essence  of  a  great,  rich,  and  deep  mind 
or  only  that  of  a  commonplace  mind.  According 
to  him  only  a  great  man  that  is  a  warm-hearted, 
upright,  and  courageous  man  can  become  a  great 
artist ;  and  he  regards  it  as  the  first  duty  of  such  to 
share  the  life  of  their  fellow-men,  to  honor  the  man 
even  in  the  humblest  fellow-being,  and  to  strengthen 
with  all  their  might  the  call  for  freedom  and  hu- 
manity as  long  as  it  remains  unheeded  by  the 
powerful.  Just  like  Tolstoi,  he  has  only  a  deep 
contempt  for  the  exalted  decadents  who,  with  their 
exclusive  and  affected  morality,  would  attack  nations 
fighting  for  their  freedom.  Like  every  independent 
thinker,  he  is  disgusted  with  the  modem  epidemic 
of  individualism,  and  his  sympathies  belong  to  the 
progressive  movement  derided  by  the  fools  of  fash- 
ion. To  be  sure,  that  does  not  make  him  greater  as 
artist,  for  artistic  greatness  has  absolutely  nothing 
to  do  with  party  affiliations;  neither  does  it  make 
him  less,  for  his  artistic  achievements  are  not  at  all 
lessened  by  his  giving  us  sentiments  as  well  as  im- 
ages. But  if  a  humane,  altruistic,  cultured  man 
who  finds  joy  in  progress  stands  ethically  higher 
than  the  exclusive,  narrow-minded  reactionary  or 
self-sufficient,  surfeited  decadent,  then  Ryepin  is 
worth  more  than  the  idols  of  snobs.     And  not  as 

54 


ARTIST    AND    PROFESSOR 

man  only;  he  also  stands  higher  as  artist,  for  he 
gives  expression  with  at  least  the  same  mastery, 
and,  in  truth,  with  an  incomparably  greater  mastery, 
to  the  ideals  of  a  more  noble,  greater,  and  richer 
mind.  The  belief  that  participation  in  the  strug- 
gles and  movements  of  the  day  affects  the  artist  un- 
favorably is  ridiculed  by  him ;  the  contrary  is  true 
in  his  case.  It  has  given  him  an  abundance  of 
striking  themes  as  well  as  the  duel  and  nihilist 
cycles. 

I  will  pass  by  the  duel  cycle  culminating  in  the 
powerfully  portrayed  suffering  of  the  repenting  vic- 
tor. For  us  the  nihilist  cycle  is  more  interesting, 
more  Russian.  "  Nihilist"  is,  by-the-way,  an  abom- 
inable name  for  those  noble  young  men  and  women 
who,  staking  their  lives,  go  out  among  the  common 
people  to  redeem  them  from  their  greatest  enemies — 
ignorance  and  immorality.  The  real  nihilists  in 
Russia  are  those  of  the  government  who  are  not 
held  back  even  by  murder  when  it  is  of  service  to 
the  system,  the  cynics  with  the  motto,  "  Apres  nous 
le  deluge";  surely  not  these  noble-hearted  dream- 
ers who  throw  down  the  gauntlet  to  the  all-powerful 
Holy  Synod  and  to  the  not  less  powerful  holy 
knout. 

At  the  time  when  the  "well-disposed"  portion  of 
Russian  society  had  turned  away  in  honor  from  the 
Russian  youth  because  a  few  fanatics  had  believed 
that  they  could  more  quickly  attain  their  aims  by 
the  propaganda  of  action  than  by  the  fully  as  danger- 

55 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

ous  and  difficult  work  among  the  people,  Ryepin 
painted  his  cycle  which  explains  why  among  the 
young  people  there  were  a  few  who  resorted  to  mur- 
der. Who  does  not  know  from  the  Russian  novels 
those  meetings  of  youths  who  spent  half  the  night 
at  the  steaming  samovar  discussing  the  liberation 
of  the  people  and  the  struggle  against  despotism,  in 
debates  that  have  no  other  result  than  a  heavy  head 
and  an  indefinite  desire  for  self-sacrifice  ?  The  cycle 
begins  with  such  a  discussion.  Men  and  women 
students  are  gathered  together,  unmistakably  Rus- 
sian, all  of  them,  Slavic  types,  the  women  with  short 
hair,  the  men  mostly  bearded  and  with  long  hair. 
In  the  smoky  room,  imperfectly  lighted  by  the  lamp, 
they  are  listening  to  a  fiery  young  orator.  We  find 
this  young  man  again  as  village  teacher  in  the 
second  picture.  He  had  gone  among  the  people. 
In  one  of  the  following  pictures  he  has  already  been 
informed  against,  and  the  police  search  through  his 
books  and  find  forbidden  literature.  The  police  spy 
and  informer,  who  triumpantly  brings  the  package 
to  light,  is  pictured  to  his  very  finger-tips  as  the  gen- 
tleman that  he  is.  In  still  another  picture  the  young 
martyr  is  already  sitting  between  gendarmes  on  his 
way  to  Siberia;  and  in  the  last  he  returns  home  old 
and  broken,  recognized  with  difficulty  by  his  family, 
whom  he  surprises  in  the  simple  room.  One  may 
see  this  cycle  in  the  Tretyakov  Gallery,  and  copies 
of  it  in  the  possession  of  a  few  private  individuals, 
persons  in  high  authority,  who  are  above  fear  of  the 

S6 


ARTIST    AND    PROFESSOR 

police;  and  one  is  reminded  of  the  saying  so  often 
heard  in  Russia,  "We  are  governed  by  the  scoun- 
drels, and  our  upright  men  are  languishing  in  the 
prisons."  The  nihilist  has  the  features  of  Dostoy- 
evski  who  was  so  broken  in  Siberia  that  he  thanked 
the  Czar,  on  his  return,  for  his  well-deserved  punish- 
ment, and  who  had  become  a  mystic  and  a  reaction- 
ary. In  another  picture  a  yoimg  nihilist  on  his  way 
to  the  scaffold  is  being  offered  the  consolation  of  re- 
ligion by  the  priest,  but  he  harshly  motions  him 
back. 

All  these  pictures  are  homely  in  their  treatment. 
The  poverty  of  the  interior,  the  inspired  faces  of  the 
noble  dreamers,  and  the  brutal  and  stupid  faces  of 
the  authorities  speak  for  themselves  clearly  enough, 
and  no  theatrical  effects  of  composition  are  neces- 
sary to  impart  the  proper  mood  to  the  observer. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  just  this  discretion,  the  almost 
Uhde-like  simplicity  that  is  so  effective.  Yet  Po- 
bydonostzev  and  Plehve  will  scarcely  thank  the 
artist  for  these  works  that  for  generations  will 
awaken  hatred  against  the  system  among  all  better- 
informed  young  men.  However,  their  reproduc- 
tion is  prohibited. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  drawings  which  Ryepin 
made  for  popular  Russian  literature  are  circulated 
by  hundreds  of  thousands  among  the  people.  It  is 
an  undertaking  initiated  by  Leo  Tolstoi  with  the 
aid  of  several  philanthropists,  for  combating  bad 
popular  literature.     It  is  under  the  excellent  man- 

57 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

agement  of  Gorbunov  in  Moscow.  There  are  an- 
nually placed  among  the  people  about  two  millions 
of  books,  ranging  in  price  from  one  to  twenty  ko- 
peks. It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  the  men 
who  enjoy  Tolstoi's  confidence  will  not  be  a  party 
to  barbarism.  The  foremost  artists  supply  the 
sketches  for  the  title-pages,  among  them  Ryepin, 
the  fiery  Tolstoian.  Ryepin's  admiration  for  the 
great  poet  of  the  Russian  soil  is  also  evident  from 
his  numerous  pictures  of  Tolstoi.  He  has  painted 
the  saint  of  Yasnaya  Poly  ana  at  least  a  dozen  times — 
at  his  working-table;  in  the  park  reclining  under  a 
tree  and  reading  after  his  swim;  a  bare-footed  dis- 
ciple of  Kneipp ;  or  following  the  plough,  with  flow- 
ing beard,  his  powerful  hand  resting  on  the  plough- 
handle.  All  are  masterly  portraits,  and,  above  all 
things,  they  reflect  the  all-embracing  kindness  that 
shines  in  the  blue  eyes  of  the  poet — eyes  that  one 
can  never  forget  when  their  kindly  light  has  once 
shone  upon  him. 

Public  opinion  in  Russia  has  been  particularly 
engrossed  with  a  recent  picture  which  furnishes  much 
food  for  reflection.  Two  young  people,  a  student 
clad  in  the  Russian  student  uniform  and  a  young 
gentlewoman  with  hat  and  muff,  step  out  hand-in- 
hand  from  a  rock  right  into  the  raging  sea.  What 
is  the  meaning  of  it  ?  The  triimiphant  yoimg  faces, 
the  outstretched  arms  of  the  student  exclude  the 
thought  of  suicide.  It  has  been  suggested  that  it  is 
an  illustration  of  the  Russian  saying,  "To  the  coura- 

58 


ARTIST    AND    PROFESSOR 

geous  the  sea  is  only  knee-deep."  But  in  that  case  it 
would  mean,  "Have  courage,  young  people;  do  not 
fear  the  conflict;  for  you  the  sea  is  only  knee-deep." 
But  it  could  also  be  interpreted,  "  Madmen,  what 
are  you  doing?  Do  you  not  see  that  this  is  the 
terrible,  relentless  sea  into  which  you  would  step?" 
In  that  case  it  would  be  a  warning  intended  for 
the  Russian  youth,  revolutionary^  throughout,  who 
would  dare  anything.  This  much  is  certain:  the 
greatest  Russian  painter,  and  one  of  the  greatest  of 
contemporary  painters,  is  on  the  side  of  these  young 
people,  and  his  heart  is  with  them  even  though  he 
may  doubt,  as  many  another,  the  success  of  the 
heroic  self-sacrifice.  The  noble  ideals  of  youth 
cannot  conquer  this  sea  of  ignorance  and  slave- 
misery.  Great  and  immeasurable  as  is  the  Russian 
nation,  nothing  can  help  the  country.  It  must  and 
will  collapse  within  itself,  and  then  will  come  the 
hour  of  release  for  all,  whether  noble  or  poor,  to 
whom  the  Ryepins  and  the  Leo  Tolstois  have  dedi- 
cated their  incomparably  great  works.  Perhaps 
this  hour  is  nearer  than  is  suspected.  Russian  soil 
is  already  groaning  under  the  March  storms  which 
precede  every  spring. 


VII 

THE    HERMITAGE 

THE  curious  conception  of  Tolstoi's  as  to  the 
severing  and  injurious  influence  of  art  that  does 
not  strive  directly  to  make  people  more  noble,  can 
perhaps  be  understood  only  when  the  collections  in 
the  St.  Petersburg  Hermitage  and  Alexander  Museum 
are  examined.  Striking  proof  will  there  be  found 
that  the  enjoyment  of  art — nay,  the  understanding 
of  it — need  not  necessarily  go  hand-in-hand  with 
humane  and  moral  sentiments.  Antiquity  and  the 
Renaissance  prove  that,  under  certain  conditions, 
inhumanity  and  scandalous  immorality  can  har- 
monize very  well  with  the  understanding  of  art,  or 
with,  at  least,  a  great  readiness  to  make  sacrifices  for 
the  sake  of  it.  The  inference  that  the  greater  re- 
finement of  the  taste  for  art  is  the  cause  of  moral 
degeneration  is  not  far  from  the  truth.  It  is  quite 
conceivable  from  the  stand-point  of  an  essentially 
revolutionary  philosophy,  framed  for  the  struggle 
against  the  demoralizing,  violent  government  of  St. 
Petersburg,  since  everything  that  is  apparently  en- 
titled to  respect  in  this  St.  Petersburg  is  unveiled 
and  damned  in  its  nothingness.     Thus  it  is  with 

60 


THE    HERMITAGE 

science — that  is  to  say,  a  university  that  does  not 
begin  its  work  by  denouncing  a  despotism  only  seem- 
ingly favorable  to  civilization ;  so  it  is  with  a  fancy 
for  art,  which  possibly  may  convince  czars  and  their 
servants  that  they  also  have  contributed  their  mite 
towards  the  welfare  of  mankind. 

The  stranger  who  does  not  see  things  with  the 
eyes  of  the  passionate  philanthropist  and  patriot, 
and  who  when  gazing  at  the  master-works  of  art, 
does  not  necessarily  think  of  the  depravity  of  the 
gatherers  of  these  works,  is  surely  permitted  to  dis- 
regard the  association  of  ideas  between  art  and 
morality,  and  to  give  himself  over  unconstrainedly 
to  the  enjoyment  of  collections  that  can  hold  their 
own  with  the  best  museums  of  the  world.  To  be 
sure,  Catherine  H.  was  not  an  exemplary  empress 
or  woman,  yet  by  her  purchases  for  the  Hermitage 
she  rendered  a  real  service  to  her  country,  a  service 
that  will  ultimately  plead  for  her  at  the  judgment- 
seat  of  the  world's  history.  Alexander  HI.  and 
his  house  were  misfortunes  for  his  country,  but  the 
museum  that  bears  his  name  will  keep  alive  his 
memory  and  will  cast  light  of  forgiveness  on  a  soul 
enshrouded  in  darkness.  Besides,  it  has  nowhere 
been  shown  that  without  the  diversion  of  expensive 
tastes  for  art,  slovenly  empresses  would  have  been 
less  slovenly  or  dull  despots  less  violent.  But  in 
the  Hermitage  one  may  forget  for  a  couple  of  hours 
that  he  is  in  the  capital  of  the  most  unfortunate 
and  the  most  wretchedly  governed  of  all  countries. 

6i 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

On  the  whole,  it  is  impossible  to  give  in  a  mere 
description  an  adequate  conception  of  the  great 
mass  of  masterpieces  here  gathered  together.  I 
shall  attempt,  in  the  following,  to  seize  only  a  few 
meagre  rays  of  the  brightest  solitaires. 

Borne  by  the  one-story  high — entirely  too  high — 
naked  Atlas  of  polished  black  granite,  there  rises 
the  side  roof  of  the  Hermitage  over  a  terrace  of  the 
" millionnaya "  (millionaires'  street).  We  enter  the 
dark,  high  entrance-hall,  from  which  a  high  marble 
staircase,  between  polished  walls,  leads  to  a  pillared 
hall,  already  seen  from  below.  The  attendants,  in 
scarlet  uniforms,  jokingly  known  at  the  court  as 
"lobsters,"  officiously  relieve  us  of  our  fur  coats, 
and  we  hasten  into  the  long  ground  floor,  where 
await  us  the  world-famous  antiquities  from  Kertch, 
in  the  Crimea.  Unfortunately,  there  awaits  us  also 
a  sad  disappointment.  The  high  walls  are  so  dark, 
even  in  the  middle  of  the  gray  winter  day,  that  the 
beauty  of  the  many  charming  miniatures  must  be 
surmised  rather  than  felt.  We  could  see  scarcely 
anything  of  the  great  collection  of  vases.  We 
breathe  with  relief  when  we  at  last  enter  a  hall 
that  has  light  and  air,  now  richly  rewarded  for  our 
Tantalus-like  sufferings  in  the  preceding  rooms. 
Here  glitter  the  gold  laurel  and  acorn  crowns  that 
once  adorned  proud  Greek  foreheads ;  there  sparkles 
the  gold  -  braided  border  with  which  the  Greek 
woman  trimmed  her  garments,  representing  in  min- 
iature relief  lions'  and  rams'  heads.     The  gold  brace- 

62 


THE    HERMITAGE 

lets  and  necklaces,  ear-rings  and  brooches  tell  us 
that  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun.  Before 
the  birth  of  Christ  there  were  worn  in  Chersonesus 
the  same  patterns  that  are  now  designed  anew  by 
diligent  artistic  craftsmen — nay,  even  vases  and 
tumblers,  the  creations  of  the  most  modern  individ- 
ualities, had  already  lain  buried  under  the  rubbish 
of  thousands  of  years.  Our  attention  is  drawn  to 
a  vase  in  a  separate  case,  which  gives  an  excellent 
representation  of  the  progress  of  a  bride's  toilet 
from  the  bath  to  its  finishing  touches  ready  for  the 
bridegroom's  reception.  Who  knows  what  scene 
of  domestic  happiness  was  involved  in  the  presen- 
tation of  this  gift  thousands  of  years  ago!  Sensa- 
tions which  one  experiences  only  in  the  streets  and 
houses  of  Pompeii  are  renewed  here  while  looking 
at  the  glass  cases  with  their  collections  of  ornaments 
and  of  articles  of  utility  that  tell  us  of  the  refined 
pleasures  and  the  exquisite  taste  of  times  long  gone 
by.  The  waves  of  the  Black  Sea  played  about 
Greek  patrician  houses  where  to-day  the  rugged 
Cossack  rides  with  the  knout  in  his  hand.  A  great 
hall  shows  us  finally  the  Olympian  Zeus  with  the 
eagles  at  his  feet,  also  with  the  soaring  Nike  in  his 
right  hand.  Klinger's  "  Beethoven"  reminds  us  in- 
voluntarily of  this  lofty  work  without  attaining  its 
majesty.  A  torch-bearer,  a  mighty  caryatid  of 
Praxiteles  with  a  truly  wonderful  draping  of  the 
garments,  a  Dionysus  of  the  fourth  century,  an 
Omphale  clad   in  the  attributes  of  Hercules,  sar- 

63 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

cophagi  with  masterly  reliefs,  a  divine  Augustus,  por- 
trait busts  of  satyrs,  entitle  this  collection  to  rank 
with  that  of  the  Vatican,  not  in  numbers,  but  in 
the  great  worth  of  single  works.  But  our  wonder 
and  admiration  become  greater  when  we  enter  the 
splendid  halls  of  the  picture-gallery.  We  hasten 
past  Canova  and  Houdon,  however;  the  graceful 
figures  of  the  one  and  the  characteristic  ' '  Voltaire ' ' 
of  the  other  had  attracted  us  at  other  times.  On 
to  Murillo,  Rembrandt,  Rubens,  Titian,  to  be  pre- 
sented to  us  in  unusual  completeness.  Twenty- two 
Murillos,  the  finest  of  them  carried  away  by  the 
French  from  Madrid,  wrapped  around  flag-staffs.  I 
must  confess  that  I  had  not  hitherto  fully  compre- 
hended Murillo 's  fame,  for  I  am  not  acquainted  with 
the  Spanish  galleries.  It  was  only  in  St.  Petersburg 
that  the  full  greatness  of  the  master  dawned  upon 
me.  No  description  can  give  an  adequate  idea  of 
the  charm  of  the  Virgin  Mother  in  the  two  gray- 
walled  pictures  of  "  The  Conception  "  and  "  The  As- 
sumption." What  distinguishes  it  from  the  famous 
Louvre  picture  is,  above  all,  the  childlike  expression 
of  the  sweet  girl's  head.  A  Mignon  as  Mary!  The 
dark  eyes  looking  up  to  heaven  with  such  inspired 
enthusiasm;  the  full  cheeks  delicately  tinted;  the 
light  garment  of  the  maiden,  almost  a  child,  enfold- 
ing it  chastely ;  the  entire  figure,  to  the  blue,  loosely 
fluttering  cloak  bathed  in  light ;  the  cupids  crowding 
about  the  knees  and  carrying  her  heavenward ;  sweet 
rogues  on  the  cloud  wall,  a  part  still  in  the  light 

64 


THE    HERMITAGE 

radiated  by  her,  and  a  part  already  immersed  in  the 
deep  darkness  of  space — the  whole  sublime,  as  on 
the  first  day  of  creation,  no  note  failing  in  the 
Spaniard's  full  glow  of  color. 

No  less  splendid  and  inspired  is  "Repose  Dur- 
ing the  Flight  to  Egypt,"  where  the  mother  of  the 
Lord  again  awakens  the  most  fervent  sensations. 
She  is  no  longer  the  half  -  childlike  virgin  of  the 
Conception  and  the  Assumption ;  she  is  the  mother, 
tenderly  and  rapturously  gazing  at  the  sleeping 
child  surrounded  by  a  halo  of  heavenly  light.  An- 
gels crowd  forward  in  naive  curiosity;  the  saintly 
Joseph  looks  with  emotion  on  the  contented  infant ; 
the  thick  foliage  gives  to  the  entire  group  shade 
and  coolness.  Even  the  ass  looks  comfortable  and 
pious.  The  color  and  composition  are  entirely  be- 
yond comparison. 

A  painting  brimful  of  roguishness  is  "Jacob's 
Ladder,"  where  angels  ascending  and  descending, 
making  up  the  dreams  of  the  sleeper,  amuse  them- 
selves in  most  innocent  fashion.  Well  known  is  the 
charming  Christ-Child  in  the  painting  of  "  St.  Joseph," 
and  the  charming  little  "John"  often  fondly  painted 
by  him,  his  arms  entwined  about  his  lambkin. 
Hardy  peasant  types  are  not  wanting ;  and  that  the 
inspiration  of  the  great  Spaniard  may  not  exceed  all 
bounds,  there  are  a  few  pictures  which,  with  all  their 
artistic,  excellence  make  us  realize  what  a  chasm 
separates  us  from  the  passionate  Catholic  Murillo. 
We  believe  that  full  artistic  justice  may  be  done  to 
s  65 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

the  poetry  of  Biblical  legend  without  being  obliged 
to  glorify  a  Peter  Aubry.  However,  other  lands, 
other  customs! 

Of  Velasquez's  work  there  should  be  mentioned, 
in  the  first  place,  his  paintings  of  Philip  IV.  and 
the  Duke  of  Olivarez,  both  of  striking  characteriza- 
tion in  their  grotesque  ugliness — the  master  will  sur- 
vive even  the  one-sided  and  exclusive  cult  of  which 
he  has  been  made  the  victim.  We  will  not  set  our 
minds  against  Velasquez's  or  Leonardo's  "Mona 
Lisa  "  just  because  they  are  to  be  found  in  all  the 
exercises  of  enraptured  modem  goslings. 

I  will  not  say  anything  about  the  "Madonna 
Conestabile, "  the  "St.  George,"  and  the  wonder- 
ful "Madonna  Alba"  of  Raphael,  for  I  consider 
it  entirely  superfluous  to  combat  the  affected  under- 
estimates of  the  master  of  Urbino,  which  is  insisted 
upon  as  a  matter  of  party  obligation  by  every  imi- 
tator of  fashion.  If  Herr  Muther  prescribes  the 
Botticelli  cult  for  the  last  years  of  one  century,  the 
rediscovery  of  the  joyous  Andrea  del  Sarto  for  the 
first  years  of  a  new  century,  he  will,  if  we  live  to  see 
the  day,  prescribe  for  the  century  noonday  the  re- 
turn to  the  master  of  perfection,  Raffaelo  Sanzio,  as 
the  inevitable  requirement  of  fashion,  and  his  dis- 
ciples will  add  here  their  solemn  amen.  But  the 
eternal  masters  are  above  the  gossip  of  salons  and 
fashions. 

Sebastiano  del  Piombo  is  represented  here  by  a 
most    extraordinary    "Descent    from    the    Cross," 

66 


THE    HERMITAGE 

Correggio  by  the  "Madonna  del  Latte,"  Leonardo 
da  Vinci  by  the  light  blonde  "Madonna  Litta," 
which,  like  all  the  works  of  this  master,  is  questioned, 
but  which  bears  his  imprint  as  much  as  any  of  his 
works.  Of  Botticelli  there  is  a  very  well-preserved 
"Adoration  of  the  Magi,"  similar  to  the  Florentine 
painting.  Likewise,  here  in  all  the  minor  figures  of 
the  kneeling  kings  and  shepherds,  and  even  of  the 
horses,  there  is  a  perfection  in  the  master}^  of  dravv- 
ing,  the  Madonna  archaically  overslender,  with  the 
thin  neck  of  the  Primitivists,  which,  out  of  respect 
for  sacred  tradition,  the  otherwise  bold  master  did 
not  dare  meddle  with.  Naturally,  the  modem  art 
mockery  sees  in  this  defect  of  Botticelli's,  accounted 
for  by  respect  for  tradition,  his  chief  superiority,  and 
goes  into  affected  raptures  at  the  sensitive  figures 
of  his  "Primavera,"  and  imitates  the  studied  gest- 
ures of  those  foolish  airs  which  our  higher  bour- 
geoisie affect  in  order  to  resemble  the  decadent 
nobility.  But  BotticelH  really  deserves  a  better  fate 
than  to  be  the  fashion  painter  of  the  snobs. 

Bronzino's  picture  of  a  young  woman,  with  quite 
modem  bronze-colored  hair  and  exceptionally  small 
hands,  might  well  be  substituted,  if  fashion  chose, 
for  "Mona  Lisa"  in  the  modem  feuilletons.  A 
Renaissance  could  easily  dedicate  a  piquant  novel 
to  her  dreamy,  roguish  eyes,  her  soft  chin,  and  her 
sensual  mouth,  which  would  not  be  contradicted 
by  the  rich  pearl  omaments  in  her  hair  and  ears. 
There  is  a  Judith  by  the   highly  beloved  master 

67 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

Giorgione,  which  is  far  superior  in  the  majesty  of  her 
bearing  and  the  beauty  of  her  head  to  her  sisters  of 
eariier  and  later  times.  By  the  side  of  this  noble 
and  historical  figure  the  other  Judith,  the  creation 
of  the  wanton  and  diseased  fancy  of  Klimt — the 
otherwise  prominent  but  misguided  master  —  ap- 
pears absolutely  odious. 


VIII 

THE   HERMITAGE — CONTINUED 

A  CROWN  of  shining  jewels  is  the  Titian  room, 
with  the  Christ,  the  Cardinal  Pallavicini,  the 
Danae,  the  Venus,  Magdalene,  and  the  Duchess  of 
Urbino.  It  is  a  small  cabinet,  scarcely  measuring 
five  square  metres,  in  which  is  gathered  more  shining 
beauty  than  in  many  an  entire  museum.  Prominent, 
however,  is  the  fair  daughter  of  Parma,  forerunner 
of  the  "Mona  Vanna,"  as  Venus  dressed,  or  rather 
undressed,  naked,  in  a  velvet  cloak  that  kindly 
fulfils  its  duty  only  from  the  hips  downward.  The 
goddess  gazes  at  herself  in  a  mirror  held  by  a  cupid, 
while  another  chubby  little  fellow  is  trying  to  place 
a  crown  on  her  head.  She  deserves  it,  this  prize  of 
beauty.  There  radiates  from  her  eyes,  her  mouth, 
her  shoulders,  arms,  and  hands  a  splendor  such  as 
even  this  prince  but  seldom  gave  to  his  creations. 
The  curves  of  the  breast,  only  half  covered  by  the 
left  hand,  the  navel,  and  the  hips  are  as  soft  as  if 
painted  with  a  caressing  brush.  The  heavy  velvet 
cloak  intensifies  even  the  remarkable  brightness  of 
the  body.  The  Danae,  languidly  outstretched  on 
the  cushions  of  her  luxurious  couch,   shuddering 

69 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

under  the  golden  harvest  that  falls  into  her  lap,  is 
much  superior  to  her  rivals  in  Naples  and  Vienna. 
It  is  the  only  original  that  does  not  disappoint  the 
expectations  created  by  the  widely  distributed  re- 
productions, for  it  also  is  perfectly  preserved.  The 
line  of  the  back  from  the  shoulder  to  the  bent  knee 
of  the  resting  young  body  is  of  a  unique  softness; 
the  transition  from  the  thigh  to  hip  is  like  velvet  in 
the  softness  of  the  body;  the  feet  and  toes  are  of 
classic  beauty.  The  Magdalene  again  is  all  feeling. 
The  tears  flowing  from  her  eyes,  reddened  by  sor- 
row, are  as  real  as  her  contrition ;  the  heavy  braids, 
pressed  with  the  right  hand  to  the  full  bosom, 
enable  us  to  understand  her  sins ;  but  the  penitential 
garment  and  the  desert,  where  we  find  her  alone 
with  a  human  skull,  compel  us  to  believe  in  her  re- 
pentance. The  artist's  model  was,  as  in  the  similar 
work  in  Florence,  his  daughter  Lavinia. 

The  school  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci  is  not  as  well 
represented;  but  mention  should  be  made  here  of 
"St.  Catherine  of  Luini,"  if  only  for  the  sake  of  the 
saint  herself,  that  is  fashioned  after  the  same  model 
as  "St.  Anne,"  by  Leonardo.  Somewhat  better 
represented  is  the  Venetian  school  with  a  few  Tinto- 
rettos  and  Paolo  Veroneses.  Of  the  later  Italians, 
we  find  especially  of  note,  "Mary  in  the  Sewing- 
School,"  "St.  Joseph  with  the  Christ -Child,"  and 
"Cleopatra,"  by  Guido  Reni. 

But  the  pride  of  the  collection  is  the  Rembrandt 
gallery.     The  so-called  "Mother  of  Rembrandt"  is 

70 


THE    HERMITAGE 

somewhat  inferior  to  the  incomparable  Vienna 
painting.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  among 
the  thirty-nine  authentic  works  of  the  master  such 
gems  as  the  "Descent  from  the  Cross,"  with  its 
singular  lights  and  shadows,  and  "  David  and  Absa- 
lom," with  astonishing  boldness  of  sketching  and 
wonderful  softness  of  coloring.  But  far  beyond  the 
technique  we  are  struck  in  this  picture  by  the  almost 
tragic  power  of  expression.  It  is  the  moment  of 
conciliation  between  father  and  son.  How  the 
young  prince  with  luxurious  hair  hides  his  trem- 
bling hand  on  his  father's  breast;  how  the  father, 
who  very  strangely  has  the  features  of  the  master 
himself,  draws  to  his  breast  the  newly  found  son, 
and  breathes  to  Jehovah  a  prayer  for  blessing.  It 
is  treated  with  such  overpowering  mastery  as 
dwells  only  in  the  greatest  scenes  of  fatherly  passion 
in  all  literature  and  art.  The  second  treatment  of 
the  same  theme,  "The  Prodigal  Son,"  is  trans- 
planted from  the  princely  to  the  common.  The 
returning  son  is  not  a  prince ;  the  father  is  not  a  be- 
turbaned  sultan ;  but  the  intensity  of  the  embrace  is 
the  same ;  the  same  thrill  comes  to  us  out  of  this  as 
out  of  the  brilliant  "Absalom"  picture,  the  two 
songs  of  the  forgiving  father's  love.  The  counter- 
part of  these  two  is  the  painting  of  the  great  father's 
sorrow  that  seizes  the  old  Jacob  when  his  sons 
bring  to  him  the  bloody  garment  of  his  beloved 
Joseph.  The  terror  and  amazement  of  the  pa- 
triarch, distinctly  marked  in  the  hands  of  the  sage 

71 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

uplifted  as  if  warding  off  a  blow,  are  strongly  im- 
pressed on  the  mind  of  the  beholder.  The  famous 
"Sacrifice  of  Isaac"  is  to  me  of  slighter  value  than 
the  preceding,  notwithstanding  all  the  dramatic 
force  of  the  moment  depicted.  It  is  really  too 
difficult  for  us  to  look  into  the  soul  of  an  old  fanatic 
who  is  ready  to  slay  his  own  son  at  the  command 
of  God;  yet  the  foreshortening  of  the  recumbent 
Isaac,  and  the  angel  sweeping  down  on  him  like  a 
tempest,  to  seize  just  at  the  right  moment  the  hand 
of  the  old  man,  are  brought  out  again  with  really 
wanton  mastery.  The  so-called  Danae  is  not  to 
every  one's  taste,  its  universal  fame  notwithstand- 
ing. Bode  takes  it  as  Sarah,  the  daughter  of 
Raguel,  awaiting  her  betrothed.  Its  meaning  might 
well  be  a  subject  of  discussion.  The  old  woman 
who  draws  back  the  heavy  drapery  over  the  couch, 
with  the  honest  match-maker's  joy  on  her  face  and 
the  purse  in  her  hand,  indicates  a  mythological  in- 
cident and  not  the  legitimate  joys  of  Sarah.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  is  lacking  here  the  indispen- 
sable golden  shower  by  which  the  Danae  pictures 
are  really  characterized.  Besides,  the  profile  of  the 
joyously  surprised  naked  dame  is  not  all  antique. 
I  take  the  liberty  humbly  to  suggest  that  the  young 
woman  with  the  rather  mature  body  is,  to  judge  by 
the  ornaments  on  her  arms  and  in  her  hair,  as  well 
as  by  the  attributes  of  her  luxurious  bed  and  the  un- 
ceremoniousness with  which  she  allows  the  light  to 
play  on  her  naked  body  through  the  open  portieres 

72 


THE    HERMITAGE 

without  making  use  of  the  cover  lying  near  by,  to 
be  considered  a  professional  beauty,  who  is  receiving 
with  more  than  open  arms  some  very  w^elcome  and 
generous  guest.  When  once  freed  from  the  not 
exactly  pleasing  impression  which  the  fidgety  im- 
patience produces  on  the  none  too  pretty  face,  we 
cannot  but  admire  the  play  of  light  on  the  nude 
body.  Nothing  is  flattered  in  this  painting,  and 
that  makes  more  striking  the  indelible  impression  of 
the  shimmering  light  in  all  the  depressions  and 
curves  of  the  not  especially  attractive  figure. 

It  would  be  much  beyond  the  limits  of  the  present 
sketch  to  mention  even  by  name  the  works  of  the 
first  rank  in  the  Rembrandt  gallery.  Suffice  it  to 
state  that  there  are  among  them  a  so-called  So- 
bieski,  the  portrait  of  the  calligrapher  Coppenol, 
almost  breathing  before  one's  eyes,  the  "  Parable  of 
the  Workmen  in  the  Vineyard,"  "Abraham's  En- 
tertainment of  the  Angels,"  a  "Holy  Family"  of 
such  loveliness  as  can  scarcely  be  accredited  to  the 
forceful  realist,  the  "  Workshop  of  Joseph,"  the  "  In- 
credulity of  St.  Thomas,"  full  of  restless  movement, 
a  splendid  heroic  "Pallas,"  portraits  of  men  and 
women,  all  of  them  works  of  the  first  rank,  gems  in 
the  art  of  all  time.  To  say  anything  of  the  master 
himself  is,  thank  Heaven,  unnecessary.  He  has 
thus  far  escaped  untouched  from  the  constant  rev- 
olution of  values,  the  propelling  force  of  which  is 
usually  unknown  to  its  satellites.  Of  him  alone 
can  it  be  said,  that  even  an  approximate  conception 

73 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

of  the  range  of  his  mastery  is  impossible  without 
familiarity  with  his  paintings  in  the  Hermitage. 

Rubens,  too,  is  represented  here  in  all  his  aston- 
ishing versatility.  I  do  not  know  what  value  is 
placed  nowadays  on  this  omniscience.  Yet  even 
the  termagant  tongue  of  impotency  must  become 
dumb  before  this  splendid  collection.  Mythological 
and  Biblical  themes,  portraits  and  landscapes,  are 
almost  throughout  of  equal  perfection  and  beauty. 
His  exuberant  fancy  is  nowhere  revealed  to  better 
advantage  than  in  the  fascinating  sketches  in  which 
the  Hermitage  is  so  rich.  They  must  be  termed 
veritable  orgies  of  the  draughtsman  and  the  colorist, 
and  bear  to  a  certain  extent  the  imprint  of  peren- 
nial genius  and  happy  inspiration,  which  the  paint- 
ing, often  completed  by  his  pupils,  cannot  quite 
show.  But  where  the  master's  own  hand  has  work- 
ed it  has  given  life  to  the  imperishable.  If  a  prize 
were  to  be  awarded  to  any  one  of  the  forty-seven 
masterpieces  it  would  surely  belong  to  the  portrait 
of  Helene  Fourment,  on  which  the  artist  worked 
with  undivided  love.  The  roguish  beauty  is  painted 
life  -  size.  She  is  standing  in  a  flower  -  bedecked 
meadow,  and  in  the  background  heavy  clouds  pass 
over  the  landscape.  But  they  serve  only  to  bring 
out  in  greater  relief  the  delicate  lace  collar  around 
the  bare  neck  of  the  woman  in  a  low-necked  gown. 
She  has  on  her  blond,  curly  head  a  black,  soft, 
Rembrandt  hat,  ornamented  with  feathers,  and 
adorned   with   a   violet-blue   ribbon.     Her   heavy, 

74 


THE    HERMITAGE 

black  satin  dress  with  the  airy  white  lace  sleeves 
shows  the  still  youthful,  slender  figure  in  a  swaying, 
graceful  pose.     The  delicate  hands  are  crossed  over 
the  waist.     The  right  is  holding,  fanlikc  and  with 
refined   ease,    a  long,  white   heron's   feather.     The 
dress    and    ornaments,   the  ear-rings   and   the   be- 
jewelled brooch  and  chain,  are  treated  with  such 
care  as  was   seldom  shown  by  the  busy  master. 
The  main  charm  of  the  painting  lies,  however,  in  the 
roguish,  spirited  face  with  the  large,  clever  eyes  and 
the  smiling  little  mouth.    The  neck  and  bosom  show, 
however,  that  the  name  Helene  is  not  inappropriate. 
Of  the  mythological  pictures  the  "Drunken  Si- 
lence," variations  on  which  in  the  Munich   Pina- 
kothek  are  well  enough  known  to  make  a  more  de- 
tailed description  superfluous,  is  to  my  taste  the 
most  wonderful.     But  the  St.   Petersburg  original 
is,  if  possible,  even  richer  in  its  coloring,  and  the 
grotesque  humor  of  the  fine  company  is  altogether 
irresistible.     We  also  find  an  excellent  variation  in 
"The  Pert  Lover's  Happy  Moments,"   the  brown 
shepherd  attacking  a  young  woman  with  the  feat- 
ures of  Helene  Fourment.     The  liberation  of  An- 
dromeda by  the  victorious  Perseus  is  a  work  with 
all  conceivable  merits.     The  dead  monster  that  had 
guarded    the    brilliantly   beautiful   maid    lies   out- 
stretched with  gaping  jaws ;  the  white-winged  steed 
that  had  carried  the  victor  is  stamping  the  ground, 
but  easily  held  in  check  by  a  Httle  cupid.     The 
victor,  still  in  his  glittering  armor,  with  the  gorgon 

75 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

shield  in  his  left  hand  approaches  the  fair  maid  and 
softly  touches  her.  Another  little  cupid  has  re- 
moved his  helmet  so  that  the  emerging  Fame  may 
place  the  wreath  on  his  locks.  But  the  youth  sees 
only  the  glorious  beauty  at  whose  draperies  three 
or  four  little  rogues  are  busily  tugging  to  pull  away 
from  the  white  body  even  the  last  vestige  of  cover- 
ing. Of  the  splendid  composition,  "Venus  and 
Adonis,"  only  the  wonderful  heads  were  drawn  by 
the  master;  the  rest  was  done  in  his  studio,  but  it 
is  quite  respectable. 

Of  the  religious  works,  the  "  Descent  from  the 
Cross"  is  akin  to  the  famous  painting  in  the  Dome 
of  Antwerp.  The  large  painting,  "Christ  Visiting 
Simon  the  Pharisee,"  was  completed  with  the  aid 
of  his  pupils.  The  figures  of  Christ  and  of  Magda- 
lene, who  is  drying  the  feet  of  the  Saviour  with  her 
hair,  were  drawn  by  the  master  himself.  The  head 
of  the  penitent  is  particularly  striking.  It  has  some- 
thing leonine  in  it,  and  the  fervor  with  which  she 
seizes  the  foot  and  draws  it  to  herself  has  also  some- 
thing of  the  passion  that  may  have  led  to  her  sin. 

Of  Van  Dyck,  the  cleverest  and  most  prominent 
of  Rubens's  pupils,  who  aspired  to  aristocratic  re- 
finement— perhaps  only  to  free  himself  from  the 
overpowering  influence  of  the  robust  genius  of  his 
teacher,  perhaps  also  because  of  his  inherently  more 
tenacious  nature — the  Hermitage  possesses  the  largest 
and  most  valuable  collection.  The  "  Holy  Family" 
is  still  influenced  by  Rubens,  although  it  is  some- 

76 


THE    HERMITAGE 

what  softer.  It  is  a  charming  composition,  full  of 
peace  and  cheerfulness.  Mary  is  sitting  under  a 
shady  tree  holding  the  Christ-Child,  who  is  standing 
on  her  lap  so  that  he  may  bend  over  to  look  at  the 
dancing  ring  of  little  angels.  St.  Joseph  is  com- 
fortably seated  in  the  background.  The  play  of  the 
angels  is  unmistakably  conceived  after  Rubens 's 
festoon,  and  yet  possesses  great  beauty  of  its  own. 
In  its  color  effects  the  picture  is  among  the  best. 
The  artist  is  seen  in  complete  self-dependence  in 
the  nimierous  portraits  of  his  English  period  as 
well  as  in  the  cabinet  piece  of  "  The  Snyder  Family." 
The  English  impress  us  especially  by  the  expression 
of  self-conscious  gentility,  aristocratic  exclusiveness, 
peculiar  to  themselves  as  well  as  to  the  master. 
We  cannot  escape  the  charm  of  these  somewhat  de- 
cadent faces,  just  as  we  would  enjoy  equally  a  Bee- 
thoven sonata  and  a  Chopin  nocturne.  Without 
the  exuberant  imagination  and  the  universality  of 
his  teacher,  Van  Dyck  possesses,  none  the  less,  a 
personality  of  his  own,  shining  with  a  light  of  its  own ; 
he  is  one  of  the  psychologists  among  the  painters. 

Another  psychologist,  though  not  with  delicate 
hands,  but  sturdy  and  creative,  with  exuberant 
genius,  is  Franz  Hals,  who  is  represented  here  by 
four  strikingly  lifelike  portraits.  Of  him,  too, 
nothing  more  need  be  said,  though  one  may  add  he 
is  a  splendid  fellow. 

The  Dutch  miniature  painters  have  here  some 
dainty  pieces.     Of  Van  der  Heist's  we  see  his   re- 

77 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

nowned  "Introduction  of  the  Bride,"  a  scene  from 
Dutch  patrician  life,  with  somewhat  strongly  ex- 
aggerated respectability  and  affluence.  The  bride- 
groom's parents,  themselves  still  young,  are  seated 
on  a  garden  terrace  clad  in  their  holiday  attire,  and 
with  gloves  in  their  hands;  the  youngest  son,  sty- 
lishly dressed,  with  a  parrot  in  his  hand,  is  looking 
with  strained  attention  towards  the  bridal  couple, 
who  are  ceremoniously  ascending  the  terrace;  two 
greyhounds  by  the  side  of  the  parents,  a  lap-dog  by 
the  bride's  side,  take  part  in  the  performance;  and 
loudest  of  all  is  the  parrot,  whom  the  master  is 
obliged  to  call  to  order  by  an  indignant  "Keep 
still!"  Notwithstanding  its  size  (it  has  a  width 
of  more  than  three  metres),  the  picture  is  painted 
with  a  m-inuteness  of  detail,  from  the  frills  of  the 
mother  to  the  rustling  silk  of  the  bride's  dress  and 
the  thin  foHage  of  the  poplars  in  the  background  of 
the  garden,  that  would  do  honor  to  any  miniature 
painter.  To  be  sure,  our  impressionist  creed  of  the 
present  day  does  not  allow  the  recognition  of  such 
painstaking  elegance  and  neatness  in  the  execution 
of  details.  However,  doctrines  pass  away,  but, 
thank  Heaven,  the  pictures  remain. 

The  numerous  domestic  genre  pictures,  Terborch's 
famous  "Glass  of  Lemonade,"  Jan  Steen's  "Drunk- 
en Woman,"  held  up  to  derision  by  her  husband, 
and  the  "Visits  of  the  Physician,"  who  is  feeling  the 
pulse  of  a  young  woman,  evidently  embarrassed, 
while  the  doctor,  with    a  significant  smile,  is  ex- 

78 


THE    HERMITAGE 

changing  remarks  with  an  old  woman,  by  ]\Ietzu, 
as  well  as  certain  physicians'  examinations,  by 
Gerhard  Dou,  that  cannot  further  be  described,  are 
all  notable,  not  only  for  the  execution  of  the  velvet 
and  silk  fabrics,  of  the  glasses  and  the  interiors,  but 
even  more  for  the  unfailing  firmness  of  characteri- 
zation in  movement  and  physiognomy.  Certainly 
these  are  great  painters,  and  their  works  are  true 
cabinet-pieces.  Composition  must  always  swing 
between  painstaking  accuracy  and  bold  impression- 
ism. Yet  nothing  could  be  more  foolish  than  the 
contempt  for  miniaturists  in  a  period  of  impres- 
sionism and  the  contempt  for  impressionists  in  a 
period  of  painful  detail.  "In  my  Father's  house 
are  many  mansions." 

What  shall  we  say  of  the  works  of  Ostade,  Teniers, 
Wouwerman,  Pottes,  and  Ruysdael?  The  Hermi- 
tage not  only  contains  an  inexhaustible  abundance 
of  their  productions,  but  includes  their  very  best 
works.  Potter  has  a  wolf-hound  and  dairy  farm, 
an  animal  group  of  the  highest  plasticity,  and  a 
quite  modern  transparency  of  atmosphere.  Tenier 
has  pieces  that  show  him  to  have  been  not  only  a 
grotesque  humorist  but  also  a  great  landscape- 
painter;  and  of  Ruysdael  there  are  true  pearls  like 
the  "Sand  Road"  and  the  "Bay  Lake." 

Rarities,  valuable  as  such  not  alone  to  the  art- 
lover,  are  the  "  Healing  of  the  Blind,"  by  Lucas  van 
Leyden,  the  "  Maid  under  the  Apple-Tree,"  by  Lucas 
Cranach,  a  triumphant  Madonna,  by  Quentin  Massys 

79 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

— faithful,  honest  works  which  the  pious  masters  laid 
with  devotion  on  the  golden  ground.  No  sensible 
person  will  deride  them,  for  they  are  still  governed 
in  their  conceptions  by  the  carefully  obeyed  rules 
of  symmetry.  In  the  attachement .  there  is  such 
depth  of  characterization,  such  affection  and  warmth, 
that  many  a  masterpiece  must  be  placed  much  be- 
low them.  For  enthusiasm  of  conception  and  con- 
scientious execution  are,  after  all,  of  deciding  mo- 
ment in  every  unbiased  judgment.  But  the  tech- 
nique belongs  to  the  time  and  not  to  the  individual. 

The  French  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  conclude  the  group.  The  Germans  have 
never  succeeded  in  placing  themselves  in  a  true  re- 
lation to  this  art  that  is  rhetorical  and  theatrical 
rather  than  really  poetical.  Yet  we  shall  never  be 
wanting  in  respect  to  others,  especially  to  the  mas- 
ters Poussin  and  Claude  Lorrain.  The  landscapes 
of  a  heroic  -  my  thological  character  that  represent 
them  in  the  Hermitage  are  monuments  of  respect- 
able ability. 

Of  real  charm,  however,  are  the  piquant  genre 
masters  Fragonard  and  Watteau,  who  were  held  in 
such  deep  contempt  in  the  virtuous  years  of  the 
Revolution,  that  no  one  dared  to  pay  even  fifty 
francs  for  their  frivolous  paintings.  They  are  repre- 
sented by  excellent  pieces,  as  well  as  the  more 
serious  master  Greuze,  whose  "Death  of  an  Old 
Man"  would  do  honor  even  to  our  good  Knaus. 
Boucher  and  Lancret  justly  deserve  our  attention. 

80 


THE    HERMITAGE 

But  IMarguerite  Gerard,  the  sister -in  law  of  Fra- 
gonard,  and  Jean  B.  Chardin,  have  quite  inconspicu- 
ously realized  a  goodly  portion  of  the  impressionist 
programme  without  devoting  themselves  merely  to 
problems  of  light  and  shade.  The  "  Mother's  Hap- 
piness" of  the  former  does  full  justice  to  the  charm- 
ing scene  and  easily  solves  a  problem  in  interiors. 
The  same  is  true  of  Chardin's  "  Washerwomien." 
There  is  positively  nothing  new  under  the  sun.  It 
is  only  the  one  or  the  other  side  of  the  universal 
knowledge  of  the  great  masters  acclaimed  as  an 
entirely  new  discovery.  Then  follow  actions  and 
reactions,  and  thus  the  so-called  art  history  is 
formed,  the  rise  and  fall  among  a  few  high  peaks 
and  nothing  more. 

One  day  we  found  a  whole  row  of  rooms  closed, 
just  those  that  contained  our  favorites  of  the  Rem- 
brandt gallery.  What  was  the  cause  of  it?  Prep- 
arations were  being  made  for  the  Czar's  dinner. 
A  great  court  dinner  is  given  every  Friday  in  the 
splendid  halls  of  the  Hermitage,  and  suitable  prep- 
para  tions  are  made  on  the  previous  day.  Flowers 
are  placed  everywhere,  dishes  and  silver  are  brought 
and  kept  under  special  watch.  The  Czar's  table  is 
placed  in  the  large  Italian  hall ;  the  courtier's  tables 
in  the  adjoining  halls.  The  conservatories  and 
prominent  artists  have  already  petitioned  for  the 
abolition  of  this  barbaric  custom,  for  the  vapors 
from  the  viands  do  not  in  any  wise  contribute  to 
the  preservation  of  the  costly  paintings.  But  how 
6  8i 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

are  exhortations  of  warning  to  reach  the  Czar's  ear  ? 
They  are  derided  by  the  servile  courtiers,  and  held 
up  to  scorn  as  professional  fancies  of  but  little  sig- 
nificance when  compared  with  the  wish  of  princes 
to  dine  among  the  finest  works  of  art  in  the  world. 
The  consciousness  that  great  works  of  art  are  mere- 
ly kept  in  trust  by  their  passing  owners,  kept  for 
their  true  owner,  progress-making  humanity,  has 
perhaps  reached  the  better  class,  but  has  not  been 
awakened  in  the  autocracy,  where  even  the  con- 
ception of  humanity  has  not  yet  been  attained. 
They  own  pictures  as  they  own  crown  jewels,  and 
consider  themselves  at  liberty  to  treat  them  as  they 
please.  But  on  such  a  matter  the  subject  must 
remain  silent;  and  he  does.  It  is  the  environment 
that  influences  princes,  whether  for  good  or  for 
evil.  But  the  injury  to  a  few  paintings,  however 
expensive,  is  not  the  worst  that  rests  on  the  con- 
science of  the  ring  in  the  Czar's  court,  just  as  the 
Hermitage  is  not  the  most  objectionable  feature  of 
St.  Petersburg.  When  the  Russian  empire  shall 
have  overcome  the  phase  of  barbarian  mistrust  for 
strangers  and  of  oppressive  police  management, 
when  it  shall  have  really  opened  its  gates,  the  Her- 
mitage will  become  a  true  centre  of  attraction  with 
few  equals  in  the  universe.  Then  will  become  com- 
mon property  those  wonder  works  that  to-day  are 
still  beyond  the  reach  of  common  knowledge.  In 
the  Russia  of  to-day  a  treasury  of  culture  like  the 
Hermitage  is  almost  an  anachronism. 

82 


IX 

THE    CAMORRA — A   TALK    WITH    A   RUSSIAN   PRINCE 

BEFORE  I  report  here  a  significant  conversa- 
tion I  had  with  a  prince,  the  friend  and  former 
confidant  of  the  Czar,  I  would  make  an  earnest  ap- 
peal to  the  public  opinion  of  Europe,  for  which  these 
lines  are  intended.  I  have  conversed  with  many- 
men  of  the  highest  rank  in  Russia ;  I  am  indebted  to 
them  for  most  valuable  information  about  the  land 
of  riddles,  yet  not  a  single  interview  was  concluded 
without  my  informant  asking  me  to  withhold  his 
name.  Only  the  prince  whose  views  I  report  here 
said  to  me,  "  If  you  need  my  name  to  prove  the 
credibility  of  the  most  incredible  things  I  had  to 
tell  you,  you  may  use  it  without  compunction. 
Possible  suffering  that  may  befall  me  because  of 
this  use  of  my  name  is  of  no  consideration  where 
the  enlightenment  of  Europe  is  concerned."  On 
mature  deliberation  I  have  preferred,  however,  not 
to  mention  his  name  here.  I  thus  renounce  the 
weight  of  a  name  of  European  repute  and  of  un- 
paralleled authority.  Notwithstanding  this,  I  still 
consider  it  necessary  to  ask  public  opinion  of  Eu- 
rope to  watch  with  redoubled  care  the  fate  of  the 

83 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

few  persons  who  have  been  my  informants.  It 
would  not  be  right  for  me  to  suppress  this  report, 
for  I  should  thus  act  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
wishes  of  the  noble-minded  prince.  Neither  could 
I  disguise  him  entirely,  since  there  are,  after  all, 
but  few  persons  that  could  have  made  to  me  these 
disclosures  on  the  helplessness  of  even  the  eminent 
patriots.  And  so  I  must  resort  to  an  appeal  to  the 
public  opinion  of  Europe  with  proper  caution.  It 
can  protect  the  prince.  For  with  all  their  wicked- 
ness the  Russian  rulers  still  fear  foreign  public  opin- 
ion. This  and  this  alone  has  a  certain  influence  on 
the  Czar.  Let  it  be  exerted  in  behalf  of  a  man  of 
the  greatest  heroism,  who  makes  appeal  to  it  out 
of  pure  patriotism. 

"Does  your  highness  think,"  I  asked,  in  the  in- 
terview I  am  about  to  report  here,  "that  the  dis- 
content everywhere  noticeable  in  all  classes  of  so- 
ciety is  real  and  of  political  significance?" 

"We  must  make  distinctions,"  answered  the 
prince;  "of  its  reality  there  is  no  doubt.  But  if 
you  ask  whether  I  consider  it  politically  fruitful, 
in  the  same  sense  that  we  may  gain  through  this 
discontent  some  necessary  change  in  the  present 
regime,  I  must  answer,  unfortunately,  no." 

"  Is  this,  then,  only  the  chronic  discontent  present 
in  western  Europe  as  well  as  in  Russia,  or  is  it  now 
acute?" 

"It  is  acute.  As  you  have  justly  observed,  the 
West  has  its  discontented  element  also;  yet  your 


THE    CAMORRA 

Western  discontent  with  all  work  of  man  may  best 
be  compared  with  that  frame  of  mind  prevalent  in 
our  country,  even  under  a  regime  that  is  normal  and 
well-intentioned,  lacking  only  efficiency.  The  rest- 
lessness that  you,  as  a  stranger,  have  noted  here 
is  quite  abnormal,  and  is  due  to  the  decided 
wickedness,  not  to  say  infamy,  of  the  existing  sys- 
tem." 

"Then  it  is  stronger  than  usual?" 

"  Incomparably  stronger.  No  entertainment  how- 
ever harmless,  no  scientific  congress,  no  meeting 
of  any  corporation  can  take  place  that  will  not 
end  in  a  political  demonstration.  All  the  prisons 
are  filled  with  most  worthy  people,  deportations 
and  banishments  increase,  yet  other  men  and  wom- 
en press  onward  to  martyrdom." 

"  I  admire  this  spirit  of  sacrifice  in  your  intelli- 
gent classes." 

"  That  is  the  difference  between  to-day  and  a  few 
years  ago.  Ten  years  ago  our  public  opinion  was 
weakened,  resigned,  crushed  by  the  heavy  hand  of 
Alexander  III.  and  the  serpent  wiles  of  Pobydo- 
nostzev.  With  the  accession  to  the  throne  of  the 
present  Czar  new  hopes  were  awakened ;  but  now, 
thanks  to  the  executioners  Sipyagin  and  Plehve, 
disappointment  and  exasperation  have  grown  to 
such  a  vast  extent  that  expression  of  them  can  no 
longer  be  repressed,  and  thousands  risk  life  and 
liberty  unable  longer  to  bear  this  condition  of  grind- 
ing inward  revolt." 

85 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"  I  witnessed  the  funeral  of  Mikhailovski.  I  must 
say  that  my  ear  detected  revolutionary  tones,  and 
such  a  procession  of  five  or  six  thousand  men 
and  women  from  among  the  highest  classes,  sur- 
rounded by  Cossacks,  among  a  listening  police,  sing- 
ing songs,  making  fiery,  freedom-breathing  speeches, 
impressed  me  of  all  things  as  a  foreboding  of  rev- 
olution. 

"Arrests  in  plenty  were  made  among  the  partici- 
pants in  the  funeral  celebration.  But  do  not  de- 
ceive yourself.  There  is  no  revolution  with  us. 
Our  country  is  too  thinly  populated.  Let  us  say 
that  ten,  fifty,  or  one  hundred  thousand  inspired 
intellectuals  would  willingly  sacrifice  themselves  if 
they  could  help  us  thereby;  how  many  Cossacks 
and  gendarmes  would  there  be  for  each  revolution- 
ist, when  we  are  spending  millions  to  maintain  an 
army  against  the  nation?  There  is  only  one  revo- 
lution that  can  be  really  dangerous,  and  I  will  not 
assert  that  such  a  revolution  could  not  break  out 
if  the  present  war  should  end  disastrously.  That 
would  be  a  peasant  revolution,  directed,  not  against 
the  regime  itself,  but  against  all  property-owning 
and  educated  persons;  it  would  begin  by  all  of  us 
being  killed  and  thrown  into  the  river.  And  the 
odds  would  be  a  hundred  to  one  then  that  the 
police  would  not  be  actively  against  this  revolution, 
but  secretly  would  be  for  it,  in  order  to  rid  them- 
selves quickly  and  surely  of  their  real  antagonist, 
the  educated  classes.     A  Kishinef  may  be  arranged 

86 


THE    CAMORRA 

here  at  any  day,  not  only  against  the  Jews,  but 
against  every  one  with  whom  the  poHce  wish  to 
get  even." 

"Then  your  highness  believes  that  the  Kishinef 
massacres  were  arranged  by  the  police?" 

"This  is  not  a  mere  belief;  it  is  a  proved  fact. 
Their  real  authors,  Krushevan  and  Pronin,  are  the 
special  proteges  of  Plehve;  and  Baron  Levendahl 
received  a  direct  order  from  the  higher  authorities 
to  refrain  from  any  intervention." 

"And  what  was  the  purpose  of  it?" 

"To  intimidate  the  Jews,  who,  by  their  tempera- 
ment, bring  a  little  more  life  to  the  radical  par- 
ties, and  to  create  the  impression  in  the  higher 
circles  that  there  is  discontent  in  the  country,  not 
against  the  government,  but  against  the  usurious 
Jews." 

"And  is  not  that  true?" 

"  Usury  with  us  is  carried  on  by  good,  orthodox 
Christians  much  more  successfully  than  by  the  Jews, 
who  are  comparatively  few  in  number,  and,  besides, 
do  not  enjoy  the  protection  of  the  authorities.  No; 
the  mob  massacres  the  Jews  because  in  the  name  of 
the  Czar  they  are  proclaimed  outlaws.  It  is  a  kind 
of  annual  picnic.  The  Kishinef  massacres  arc  con- 
demned by  the  whole  country,  not  only  by  the  philo- 
Semites — to  whom,  by-the-way,  I  do  not  belong. 
It  has  showed  to  all  of  us  what  may  be  done  in  our 
land  when  an  assumed  purpose  requires  it.  And 
for  this  reason  the  entire  public  opinion  takes  sides 

87 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

with  the  Jews,  who  were  merely  intended  to  serve 
as  scapegoats  for  the  educated  and  the  discon- 
tented." 

"  But  in  what  respect  is  the  present  regime  so 
essentially  different  from  the  preceding  ones  that 
such  a  fermentation  could  arise?  Surely  the  peo- 
ple have  not  been  spoiled  by  anything  better?" 

"  Now  it  is  worse  than  ever  before.  There  is  per- 
haps an  explanation  for  this.  Czar  Nicholas  is  in- 
spired by  the  best  of  motives.  He  is  the  first  of 
the  malcontents.  He  would  give  his  heart's  blood 
to  help  his  people.  The  clique  knows  that,  and  is, 
therefore,  risking  everything  on  one  card,  to  pre- 
vent the  Czar  from  drawing  nearer  to  the  people 
or  creating  institutions  that  would  put  an  end  to 
bureaucratic  omnipotence.  The  terrors  of  revo- 
lution are  painted  on  the  wall,  and  the  daily  arrests 
are  intended  to  prove  that  it  is  only  the  mailed  fist 
of  the  present  government  that  can  curb  a  popular 
uprising." 

"I  know  from  sources  near  the  Czar's  family  that 
the  Czar  is  again  finding  threatening  letters  in  his 
coat-pockets,  under  his  pillow,  and  elsewhere." 

"This  is  an  old  police  trick.  It  was  used  to 
frighten  Alexander  III.,  and  it  almost  drove  him 
insane.  Naturally,  it  is  only  the  police  that  can 
carry  out  such  devices,  for  others  could  not  reach 
the  Czar's  room.  But  Plehve  retains  his  ascen- 
dency through  the  illusion  that  his  dismissal  would 
mean  the  way  to  the  scaffold  for  the  Czar's  family." 


THE    CAMORRA 

"  Has  the  Czar  really  anything  to  fear  should  the 
police  relax  its  vigilance?" 

"Heaven  forbid!  The  Czar  is  a  sort  of  deity  to 
the  people,  and  the  educated  classes  know  only  too 
well  that  no  man  is  less  responsible  for  existing  con- 
ditions than  he,  in  whose  name  these  conditions  are 
inflicted  upoii  us.  But  the  Czar  is  made  to  believe 
that  every  attempt  to  free  public  opinion  from  its 
fetters  would  lead  to  popular  representation,  to  a 
constitution,  and  finally  to  the  scaffold." 

"And  all  that  is  done  by  Plehve?" 

"  By  him  alone.  His  predecessor,  Sipyagin,  was 
an  honest,  narrow  reactionary,  who  regarded  the 
state  as  the  private  property  of  the  dynasty,  some- 
thing like  a  great  estate  with  property  in  souls  as 
well  as  in  inanimate  things.  The  nation  has  no 
more  right  to  complain  against  the  impositions  of 
the  master  than  the  cattle  on  the  estate  to  com- 
plain about  the  methods  of  feeding.  Plehve  is  of 
an  entirely  different  caliber.  A  political  cheat,  an 
intriguer,  an  unscrupulous  cynic,  the  playing  on 
the  key-board  of  power  tickles  his  blunted  nerves. 
He  has  as  much  conscience,  sympathy,  and  human- 
ity as  my  tiger  here.  His  talent  consists  of  cun- 
ning and  the  art  of  dealing  with  men.  There  is  no 
one  with  whom  he  has  exchanged  three  words  that 
he  has  not  lied  to.  His  patriotic  overzeal,  how- 
ever, as  a  non-Russian — he  naturally  overdoes  his 
patriotism — commends  him  to  the  '  camarilla,'  and 
so  he  becomes  omnipotent." 

89 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"You  say  that  Plehve  is  not  Russian?" 
"  He  is  partly  Lettish,  partly  Polish,  partly  Jew- 
ish.    Men  like  this  are  always  the  worst  here;  they 
must  see   that  their  non-Russian  names   are  for- 
gotten." 

"And  what  do  you  mean  by  'camarilla'  ?" 
"The  servile  courtiers,  the  high  officials,  but 
above  all,  the  entire  system.  Do  not  forget  that 
we  are  being  ruled  by  a  Camorra  of  bureaucrats, 
that  have  no  interest  at  all  in  the  real  welfare  of 
the  country,  but  have  their  primary  interest  in  the 
uncurtailed  maintenance  of  their  power.  If  the 
Czar  wished  to  hear,  to-day,  the  truth  about  the 
condition  and  sentiments  of  the  country,  he  would 
never  succeed,  because  they  do  not  expose  one  an- 
other in  the  Camorra ;  for  there  is  only  one  god— the 
career  with  all  its  chances  of  legitimate  and  illegiti- 
mate gain." 

"Your  highness,  I  must  allow  myself  an  indis- 
creet question.  It  is  said  that  you  are  a  friend  of 
the  Czar.  You  are  surely  not  the  only  one.  You 
must  have  colleagues  among  the  nobility,  states- 
men, and  patriots  who  cannot  be  prevented  from 
being  heard  by  the  Emperor.  Are  you  not  in  a 
position  to  break  through  the  iron  ring  of  the  bu- 
reaucrats, and  to  tell  the  Czar  the  truth  about  the 
men  who  possess  his  confidence?" 

"I  appreciate  your  question.  But  what  could 
single  individuals  do  against  the  abuses  of  cen- 
turies?    Something  is  being  done  in  the  direction 

90 


THE    CAMORRA 

indicated  by  you.  The  Czar  receives,  often  enough, 
honest  and  unreserved  statements.  But  a  lasting 
effect  from  such  occasional  impulses  is  out  of  the 
question.  Moreover,  one  must  know  the  spirit  of 
the  antechamber,  the  slanders  and  suspicions,  the 
burden  of  routine.  It  would  require  the  power  of 
a  Hercules  to  escape  from  the  net  of  these  forces, 
and  the  Czar  is  of  a  timid,  modest,  kindly  nature. 
And  how  quickly  is  every  suggestion  or  initiative 
paralyzed!  And  what  influences  cross  one  another 
at  such  a  court!  Who  is  strong  enough  to  oppose 
a  grand  vizier  who  works  with  unscrupulous  falsi- 
fication, and  weaves  about  the  sovereign  an  im- 
penetrable fabric  of  false  dangers  by  means  of 
docxmientary  calumnies  and  misstatements?" 

"And  so  your  highness  can  see  no  deliverance?" 
"Only  when  God  in  heaven  shall  decree  it,  not 
otherwise.  We  live  between  the  anarchists  in  of- 
fice and  the  anarchists  with  dagger  and  revolver. 
These  are  only  active  forces,  the  latter  as  the  logical 
sequence  of  the  former,  and  more  than  once  their 
tools  as  well.  All  else  is  inactive,  limited  to  dis- 
sipating demonstration.  The  fountain  of  public 
opinion  is  not  tolerated ;  the  organization  of  a  pro- 
gressive party  is  prevented;  the  system  anxiously 
guards  the  people  from  any  contact  with  the  edu- 
cated classes.  There  is  no  room  for  sentimentality 
in  repelling  every  attempt  to  render  the  Camorra 
harmless.  An  unguarded  word,  a  simple  denuncia- 
tion, are  sufficient  to  send  honorable  and  respected 

91 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

men  where  they  lose  all  desire  for  criticism.  Whence, 
then,  can  help  come  ?  And  we  need  it,  for  the  war 
places  before  us  entirely  new  problems,  that  may 
be  solved  only  by  unshackling  intelligence.  But 
now  our  bankruptcy  will  become  evident  to  all  the 
world." 

"And  Witte!     Has  he  no  longer  any  influence?" 

"  None  whatever.  He  is  not  a  convenient  and 
acceptable  minister,  for  he  has  a  statesman's  ambi- 
tion and  political  ideas.  He  could,  perhaps,  inau- 
gurate a  new  system,  but  this  is  not  allowed.  In 
this  country  there  rules  only  the  ministry  of  the 
interior — that  is,  the  secret  police ;  the  other  depart- 
ments are  merely  figure-heads." 

"And  a  constitution  would  change  nothing  of 
this?" 

"The  Liberals  and  Radicals  believe  so,  but  I  do 
not.  I  am  of  a  different  opinion.  'Men  and  not 
measures,'  is  my  motto,  especially  in  an  autocracy. 
You  know  my  views  on  the  war.  I  am  convinced 
that  our  brave  army  will  win.  That  will  only  mean 
a  greater  strengthening  of  the  system,  till  the  com- 
plete financial  and  economic,  social  and  moral  col- 
lapse, or  till  the  first  collision  with  a  real  power  like 
the  United  States  of  America.  I  see  no  relief  and 
no  salvation,  especially  since  foreign  public  opinion 
also  forsakes  us.  We  are  fawned  upon  for  political 
or  commercial  reasons.  Tell  them  abroad  that  we 
deserve  something  better  than  this  contemptible, 
statesman-like  reserve   and  these   affected  expres- 

92 


THE    CAMORRA 

sions  of  respect  before  a  regime  that  we  ourselves 
denounce  without  exception.  We  deserve  honest 
sympathy,  for  no  other  nation  has  yet  been  made 
to  struggle  for  its  civilization  against  so  pitiless  an 
adversary.  Europe  must  further  distinguish  be- 
tween the  Russian  nation  and  this  adversary.  Rus- 
sian society  is  full  of  noble  impulses ;  it  is  generous, 
warm-hearted,  capable  of  inspiration,  and  free  from 
odious  prejudices.  Our  common  oppressor,  the 
danger  to  the  world's  peace  as  well  as  the  author  of 
this  unhappy  war,  I  repeat  it  again,  is  the  Camorra 
of  the  officials,  a  thoroughly  anarchistic  class.  I 
do  not  know,  I  must  admit,  when  and  how  our  re- 
lease will  come.  I  fear  that  we  shall,  ere  that,  pass 
through  sad  trials,  and  even  more  terrible  misery 
of  our  flayed  and  hunger  -  enfeebled  people,  before 
Heaven  shall  take  pity  on  us." 

I  left  the  noble-minded  prince  with  feelings  that 
are  usually  awakened  in  us  only  by  tragedy. 


X 

Sanger's  fall 

THE  sudden  dismissal  of  the  minister  of  public 
instruction,  the  former  imiversity  professor 
Sanger,  led  me  to  discuss  it  more  exhaustively  with 
several  high  dignitaries  who  willingly  gave  me  in- 
formation during  my  sojourn  in  St.  Petersburg.  I 
had  the  opportunity  of  conversing  with  persons  ex- 
ceptionally well-informed,  but,  for  reasons  easily 
conceivable,  I  am  not  permitted  to  mention  their 
names.  I  report  here,  from  my  notes,  an  interview 
with  a  person  standing  near  to  the  retired  minister, 
and  still  in  active  government  service,  because  it 
seems  interesting  to  me  even  now. 

"In  the  first  place,"  said  my  informant,  "you 
must  not  believe  that  Sanger  was  dismissed.  He 
himself  insisted  that  his  resignation,  repeatedly  of- 
fered, be  finally  accepted.  Scarcely  two  days  ago 
the  Czar  asked  a  general,  highly  esteemed  by  him, 
who  came  here  from  Warsaw,  where  Sanger  had 
formerly  acted  as  curator  of  the  university,  as  to  his 
opinion  of  Sanger,  and  the  general  answered  that 
he  considered  Sanger  a  very  honest  and  learned 
man.     *I  have  just  that  opinion  of  him  myself,' 

94 


SANGER'S    FALL 

said  the  Czar,  complainingly,  'but  he  positively 
would  not  remain.'" 

"  Why  does  your  excellency  believe  that  Sanger 
had  become  so  tired  of  his  position?" 

"There  are  permanent  and  special  reasons.  The 
permanent  ones  are  harder  to  explain  than  the 
special  ones.  I  therefore  begin  with  the  more  dif- 
ficult. A  minister  of  public  instruction — 'lucus  a 
non  lucendo' — has  here  a  very  difficult  post  when 
he  is  an  honest  man  and  realty  desires  to  live  up  to 
his  duties.  For  what  he  is  really  asked  to  do  is, 
that  he  do  not  enlighten  the  people,  that  he  do 
nothing  for  education,  that  he  merely  pretend  ac- 
tivity. We  need  no  education;  we  need  obedience. 
That,  of  course,  is  not  said  to  the  Czar,  who  really 
believes  that  he  s  being  served  honestly.  But  in 
the  end  it  amounts  to  this,  that  only  one  man  rules 
here,  the  minister  of  the  interior  and  chief  of  the 
secret  police,  and  that  all  the  other  ministers  must 
dance  to  his  music.  I  make  exception  here,  to  a 
certain  extent,  of  the  ministers  of  war  and  of  finance. 
But  if  in  any  case  there  be  a  possibility  of  conflict 
between  any  other  department  and  the  omnipo- 
tent police  ministry,  that  other  department  must 
subordinate  itself  to  the  rule  of  the  latter.  For 
von  Plehve  stands  guard  over  the  security  of  the 
empire.  You  understand  that  all  other  considera- 
tions are  silenced  here.  The  third  division  (the 
secret  police)  and  the  Holy  Synod  are  the  pillars 
of  our  empire.     Of  what  importance  is  here  an  in- 

95 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

offensive  minister  of  instruction,  or  culture,  as  he 
is  called  in  your  country?" 

"I  should  be  obliged  to  your  excellency  for  con- 
crete examples." 

"  Here  they  are.  There  was,  for  instance,  Gen- 
eral Wannowski,  a  really  competent  and  influential 
man.  While  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  department 
of  instruction  he  could  not  be  so  easily  turned  down 
at  the  court  as  our  ordinary  university  professor. 
Wannowski  even  effected  some  reforms  in  our  uni- 
versities, but  finally  he,  too,  found  it  desirable  to 
retire  from  the  field.  Do  you  think  it  possible  for 
a  minister  to  remain  in  office  when  a  regulation 
prepared  by  him,  approved  by  the  Czar,  and  made 
public,  must  next  day  be  withdrawn  because  the 
minister  of  the  interior  states  in  a  special  report 
that  this  regulation  is  in  opposition  to  the  general 
government  policy  and  is  a  danger  to  the  security 
of  the  country?" 

"And  has  that  occurred?" 

"Something  of  that  kind  was  a  secondary  cause 
also  of  Sanger's  resignation.  As  former  curator  of 
the  University  of  Warsaw,  he  knew  Poland  well. 
With  the  Czar's  approval,  he  framed  a  regulation 
for  instruction  in  Poland  that  was  pedagogically 
wise  and  politically  conciliating.  Instantly  Plehve 
made  objection — for  a  relief  of  the  tension  every- 
where prevailing  does  not  suit  his  system — and 
secured  the  withdrawal  of  the  regulation." 

"But  could  not  Sanger  defend  his  measures?" 

96 


SANGER'S    FALL 

"His  position  was  already  weakened.  Above 
all,  his  enemies  succeeded  in  placing  him  under 
suspicion  as  guilty  of  philo-Semitism.  You  know, 
or  perhaps  do  not  know,  that  it  is  also  a  part  of  the 
system  here  to  keep  the  Jews — particularly  the  Jews 
— from  higher  education ;  and  this  higher  education 
in  itself  runs  contrary  to  the  desire  of  the  dictator- 
general  of  the  Holy  Synod  and  to  that  of  the  police. 
A  minister  of  public  instruction,  particularly  when 
he  hails  from  the  learned  professions,  may  easily 
commit  the  error  of  making  science  readily  acces- 
sible to  all  properly  qualified.  Sanger  granted 
some  alleviation  to  the  Jews,  so  that  the  most 
gifted  among  them,  especially  when  their  academy 
professor  had  already  taken  a  warm  interest  in 
them,  could  enter  the  university  without  great  dif- 
ficulty. He  was  reproached  with  that,  and  that 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  weaken  the  position 
of  a  stronger  man." 

"  I  am  not  familiar  with  the  disabilities  of  Jewish 
students." 

"A detailed  description  of  these  disabilities  would 
carry  you  too  far  afield.  Suffice  it  to  state  that  we 
possess  a  very  complicated  system,  particularly 
developed  in  Moscow,  for  the  exclusion  of  Jewish 
children  from  the  schools.  The  ratio  of  three  to 
one  hundred  must,  however,  be  conveniently  tol- 
erated. Now  it  happens  quite  frequently  that,  no 
matter  how  strict  the  director  at  admission,  on 
promotion  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  class  this 
7  97 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

relation  is  shifted  in  favor  of  the  Jews,  because  of 
their  diligence  and  sobriety  in  contrast  to  the 
characteristics  of  the  sons  of  the  Russian  officials. 
Then  the  trouble  begins  anew.  Splendidly  quali- 
fied candidates  cannot  enter  the  university,  since 
the  prescribed  percentage  has  already  been  reached. 
The  professors,  however,  who  are  not  pronounced 
anti-Semites  really  like  these  Jewish  students  who 
have  survived  this  process  of  selection,  for  they  are 
really  studious.  But  that  again  is  opposed  to  the 
principles  of  the  accepted  policy.  And  whoever  is 
inclined  to  take  sides  with  the  professors  rather 
than  with  the  bulwarks  of  this  general  policy  may 
easily  find  himself  in  the  toils,  as  it  happened,  for 
instance,  in  Sanger's  case." 

"Who  are  these  bulwarks  of  this  general  policy?" 
An  involuntary  glance  towards  the  door,  as  if  to 
see  whether  some  uninvited  listener  was  not  acci- 
dentally near — a  glance  I  have  frequently  seen  only 
in  Russia — was  the  first  answer.  Then,  even  in 
lower  tones  than  before,  he  proceeded. 

"That  is  still  a  portion  of  the  legacy  of  Alexander 
IIL,  rigidly  guarded  by  the  dowager-empress,  and 
particularly  by  the  Grand-Duke  Sergius  in  Moscow. 
When  in  the  Russo-Turkish  war  enormous  pecula- 
tions of  the  military  stores  were  discovered,  the  heir 
to  the  throne,  then  commander  of  a  corps  in  the  re- 
serve, was  persuaded  that  the  Jewish  contractors 
had  defrauded  the  army,  and  the  officer  of  the 
secret  police,  Zhikharev,  exerted  himself  to  prove 


SANGER'S    FALL 

that  two-thirds  of  all  the  revolutionaries  were  Jews. 
That  belief  remained,  just  as  a  great  portion  of  the 
French  still  cling  to  the  belief  that  Dreyfus  is  a 
traitor  because  he  is  used  as  a  scapegoat  for  the 
information-mongers  of  high  rank  on  the  general 
staff.  Something  similar  happened  here.  I  really 
have  no  desire  to  defend  any  Jewish  contractor; 
but  when  there  was  in  our  stores  lime-dust  instead 
of  flour  in  the  sacks,  quite  other  people  than  the 
Jews  pocketed  the  difference.  However,  that  is  an- 
other story.  Grand-Duke  Sergius,  of  Moscow,  has 
among  his  other  passions  bigotry  and  a  fanatical 
hatred  of  Jews.  And  he  is  the  uncle  and  brother- 
in-law  of  the  Czar." 

"Then  Sanger  found  himself  in  a  rather  dubious 
position  mainly  as  a  philo-Semite  ?" 

"At  least  as  a  man  of  not  sufficiently  pronounced 
anti-Semitism.  But  also  because  he  was  not  really 
the  man  to  hold  his  own  with  the  generals  and  tal- 
ents of  the  career-maker  von  Plehve.  Finally,  he 
was  blamed  for  adverse  criticism  of  the  general 
principles  of  the  government  expressed  at  various 
conventions." 

"At  what  conventions?" 

"There  was  lately  a  convention  of  public-school 
teachers  that  presumed  to  criticise  by  speaking  the 
truth  about  an  intimate  of  Plehve's,  Pronin,  of  Kish- 
inef.  I  must  emphasize  here,  by -the -way,  that 
there  was  only  an  insignificant  minority  of  Jews  at 
that  convention.     Then  there  was  a  medical  congress 

99 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

whose  hygienic  resolutions  hid  under  a  very  thin 
hygienic  disguise  an  arraignment  of  the  system  of 
stupefying  the  populace.  The  Lord  knows  Sanger 
had  surely  no  premonition  of  these  occurrences. 
But  they  concerned  his  department;  the  spirit  of 
his  staff  was  not  right,  and  he  alone  was  to  blame 
for  it,  especially  since  von  Plehve  knew  very  well 
what  Sanger  thought  of  him." 

"Always  Plehve,  and  only  Plehve!" 
"He  is  our  little  Metternich.  A  representative 
man,  to  quote  Emerson.  The  regime  cannot  be 
discussed  without  the  mention  of  his  name.  Here 
is  another  little  sample  of  Plehve.  There  is  a  Pro- 
fessor Kuzmin-Karavayev  at  the  academy  of  mili- 
tary and  international  law.  He  was  elected  mem- 
ber of  the  St.  Petersburg  city  council,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  zemstvo  of  Tver,  a  highly  respected, 
upright  man,  interested  in  popular  education.  But 
now  he  has  been  forbidden  any  public  activity  by 
the  following  letter  of  von  Plehve.  Plehve  wrote 
to  Kuropatkin,  the  minister  of  war :  '  By  virtue  of 
the  authority  vested  in  me  by  the  Emperor  on  Jan- 
uary 8,  1904,  I  would  simply  dismiss  Professor  Kuz- 
min-Karavayev as  politically  inconvenient.  But 
since  he  is  in  the  government  service  I  ask  you  to 
insist  that  the  aforesaid  professor  renounce  all  pub- 
lic activity.'  This  is  literally  true.  You  see  how 
the  omnipotent  Plehve  treats  even  a  favorite  like 
Kuropatkin,  to  say  nothing  of  a  timid,  good  pro- 
fessor like  our  Sanger !     You  may  rest  assured  that, 

100 


SANGER'S    FALL 

with  all  his  upright  views,  we  lost  little  in  his  resig- 
nation; he  was  without  influence  and  too  weak." 

"And  who  will  succeed  him?" 

"That  is  quite  immaterial.  Major-General  Shil- 
der,  superintendent  of  the  cadet  corps,  has  already 
been  offered  the  position,  but  he  declined  it.  As 
long  as  Plehve's  spirit  and  that  of  his  minions  is 
sweeping  over  the  waters  nothing  will  happen  save 
what  favors  the  suppression  of  public  enlightenment 
and  the  prevention  of  revolution.  The  name  is 
but  an  empty  sound." 

"Yoiu"  excellency,  should  I  commit  an  indiscre- 
tion by  publishing  our  conversation  just  as  it  took 
place?" 

"With  the  necessary  precaution  of  leaving  out 
my  name,  for  I  naturally  have  no  inclination  to 
attract  the  especial  anger  of  our  dictator-general. 
For  the  rest,  I  do  not  believe  I  have  told  you  any- 
thing that  could  not  be  said  in  almost  the  same 
words  by  any  one  at  all  familiar  with  conditions  as 
they  are." 

"That,  your  excellency,  I  must  confirm.  One 
of  the  greatest  riddles  for  me  is  the  formation  of  a 
public  opinion  in  St.  Petersburg,  where  the  papers 
dare  not  even  hint  of  what  is  spoken  in  the  circles 
of  the  intelligent  classes." 

"Russia  also  has  its  constitution,"  said  he,  rising, 
and  smiling  significantly.  "That  constitution  con- 
sists of  the  dissensions  among  the  ministers.  And 
when  among  ourselves,  a  certain  discretion  assumed, 

lOI 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

we  do  not  stand  on  ceremony.  Here  you  have  the 
sources  of  pub  he  opinion  " — again  the  significant 
smile — "  you  wih  perhaps  understand  why  no  min- 
ister fares  well." 

"Hence  also  Plehve?" 

(A  motion  of  despairing  defence.)  "He?  No! 
speaking  seriously.  It  is  the  curse  of  our  country. 
May  the  Lord  save  us!" 


XI 


the  people  s  palace  of  st.  petersburg 
(narodni  dom) 

IN  Potemkin's  fatherland  the  art  of  government 
consists  principally  in  hiding  the  truth  not  only 
from  the  people,  but  also  from  the  Czar,  who  must 
be  made  to  believe  that  he  really  strives  for  the 
welfare  of  the  people,  and  not  only  for  that  of  the 
all-powerful  bureaucracy.  Potemkin's  art,  as  is 
well  known,  consisted  in  deceitfully  showing  to  his 
beloved  Empress,  in  a  long  journey,  prosperous 
peasant  farms,  where  in  reality  wretchedness  .and 
misery  had  established  their  permanent  home. 
What  the  all-powerful  favorite  had  accomplished 
by  means  of  pasteboard  and  bushes,  costs  the  mod- 
em Potemkins  somewhat  more  comfort;  but  like 
their  predecessor,  they  are  in  a  position  to  supply 
it  from  the  richly  filled  imperial  treasury.  The 
"Narodni  Dom,"  the  people's  institute  on  the  St. 
Petersburg  fortress,  is  utilized  to  persuade  the  phil- 
anthropic Nicholas  that  in  his  paternally  governed 
empire  more  ample  provision  is  made  for  the  com- 
mon people  and  their  welfare  than  in  the  heartless, 
civilized  Western  countries. 

T03 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

To  the  eye  of  a  well-meaning  ruler  or  of  a  well- 
disposed  globe-trotter  this  is  really  a  pleasant  sight. 
Framed  in  alleys  of  tall  trees,  there  rises  in  the  park 
a  far-stretching  stone  structure,  of  St.  Petersburg 
dimensions,  surmounted  by  a  great  cupola.  On  the 
payment  of  ten  kopeks  at  the  entrance  we  walk 
into  the  well-heated  central  portion  under  the 
dome,  brightly  illuminated  by  arc  -  lamps.  Furs 
and  overshoes  are  removed.  And  now  an  ex- 
clamation of  admiration  escapes  our  lips.  A  well- 
dressed  crowd  strolls  naturally,  without  crowding 
and  elbowing,  towards  a  platform  rising  at  the 
farther  end,  on  which,  to  judge  at  a  distance, 
Neapolitan  folk-singers  are  performing.  We  join 
the  procession,  and  when  scarcely  in  the  middle  of 
the  immense  hall  supported  by  iron  girders,  there 
resound  behind  us  thundering  notes  that  cause  us 
to  look  upward.  An  orchestra  stationed  on  a  one- 
story-high  cross-gallery  has  begun  a  Russian  popu- 
lar song.  The  singers  before  us  stop  for  a  while. 
The  crowd  moves  forward.  A  negro  dandy  with 
high,  white  standing  collar  and  patent  -  leather 
boots,  proudly  leads  by  the  arm  a  voluptuous 
blonde  of  the  Orpheum  type.  He  grimly  shows 
his  teeth  and  fists  to  the  scoffers  who  make  fun  of 
the  unequal  pair;  but  this  does  not  end  in  a  race 
conflict,  for  it  is  not  yet  certain  whether  a  negro 
boy  is  more  in  sympathy  with  the  Japanese  or  the 
Russians.  We  finally  reach  the  interesting  side  of 
the  hall,  and  there  opens  before  us  a  still  more  en- 

104 


THE    PEOPLE'S    PALACE 

chanting  picture.  Behind  long  buffet- tables,  kept 
scrupulously  clean,  and  laden  with  all  the  delicacies 
of  Russian  cookery,  from  caviar  sandwiches  to  the 
splendid  mayonnaise  of  salmon,  there  bustle  neat 
waitresses  in  white  caps  and  broad,  white  aprons. 
The  prices  are  maintained  low  throughout.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  warm  dishes,  the  preparation 
of  which  we  could  watch  in  the  large,  open  kitchen. 
Spirituous  liquors  are  not  sold,  but  in  their  place 
kvass,  and  tea  from  the  immense  copper  samovar 
blinking  in  the  kitchen.  The  glasses  are  continually 
washed  by  sparkling  water  on  an  automatically 
turning  high  stand.  The  bright  nickel,  the  reddish 
shimmer  of  the  copper,  the  bluish  white  tiles  of  the 
floor  and  walls,  the  snow-white  garments  of  the 
cooks,  the  white  light  of  the  arc-lamps  could  induce 
a  Dutchman  to  produce  a  very  effective  painting  of 
neatness.  We  allow  ourselves  to  be  crowded  for- 
ward, and  after  a  fruitful  pilgrimage,  pass  the  folk- 
singers,  where  a  part  of  the  crowd  is  gathered,  back 
towards  the  central  hall,  which  we  now  observe  at 
our  leisure.  We  are  struck  here,  in  the  first  place, 
by  the  colossal  portraits  of  the  Emperor  and  Em- 
press. They  are  the  hosts  here;  for  the  millions 
for  the  imposing  structure  came  from  the  Emperor's 
private  purse.  Then  there  is  an  immense  map  of 
the  Russian  empire  for  stimulating  patriotic  senti- 
ments. But  there  await  us  still  other  pleasures. 
The  entire  left  wing  of  the  building  is  occupied  by 
an    enormous    popular   theatre.     To-night   Tschai- 

105 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

kowski's  "Maid  of  Orleans"  is  being  played.  We 
purchase  tickets  at  the  popular  price  of  one  ruble 
per  seat,  whereby  we  secure  a  place  at  about  the 
middle  of  the  extensive  parterre,  and  are  enabled 
to  look  over  the  public  in  front  and  at  back  of  us; 
and  this  is  not  less  interesting  than  the  play  on  the 
stage.  The  seats  in  the  rows  ahead  of  us  cost  up 
to  two  rubles;  in  the  rows  at  the  back  of  us  up  to 
sixty  kopeks.  On  either  side  are  galleries  and 
standing  room  that  cost  "only"  from  thirty  to 
seventy  kopeks.  In  comparison  with  the  prices  in 
the  other  St.  Petersburg  theatres  those  of  the 
"Narodni  Dom"  must  be  considered  decidedly  pop- 
ular, even  though  it  is  a  peculiar  class  of  people 
that  can  spare  thirty  kopeks  to  two  rubles  for  an 
evening  at  the  theatre,  quite  aside  from  the  inci- 
dental expenses  of  an  evening  drive,  of  admission, 
and  of  wardrobe.     But  of  that  later. 

We  follow  the  play.  The  performance  is  de- 
cidedly respectable,  from  the  leader  to  the  chorus. 
The  setting  is  quite  brilliant,  and  true  to  style,  the 
orchestra  well  trained,  with  some  very  excellent 
performers  among  the  soloists.  We  forget,  for  the 
time  being,  that  we  are  in  Russia,  notwithstanding 
the  Russian  language  and  the  Russian  music.  It 
is  Schiller's  heroic  composition  which  has  inspired 
the  composer.  Dunoi's  Lahire,  Lionel,  Raymond, 
Bertram,  Agnes  Sorel,  Charles,  the  cardinal  appear 
before  us  in  familiar  scenes,  and  we  experience  at 
times  quite  peculiar  sensations  when  we  again  come 

jo6 


THE    PEOPLE'S    PALACE 

across  this  northern  night,  the  images,  the  glowing 
rhetoric  of  which  in  the  dear  tongue  of  our  own 
poet  had  given  us  the  first  intoxication  of  patri- 
otic enthusiasm.  The  passionately  warm  music  of 
Tschaikowski,  and  the  swing  of  his  choruses  in- 
tensify the  effect  of  those  reminiscences. 

But  let  us  return  to  Russian  reality.  A  thin, 
black-bearded  young  man  paces  busily  through  the 
rows  during  one  of  the  entr'actes.  He  exchanges 
remarks  here  and  there  with  the  officers  and  offi- 
cials, whom  he  leaves  with  a  smile.  And  in  the 
second  entr'acte  it  becomes  evident  what  prepara- 
tions had  been  made  here.  War  had  just  been  de- 
clared; the  password  had  just  been  given  out  to 
arouse  patriotic  enthusiasm,  or,  at  least,  to  make 
the  attempt.  Already  in  one  or  another  of  the 
theatres  the  public  had  thunderingly  called  for  the 
national  hymn.  What  is  proper  in  the  Imperial 
Theatre  must  be  acceptable  in  the  popular  theatre. 
The  curtain  had  fallen  after  the  second  act,  when 
suddenly,  from  one  of  the  boxlike  recesses  on  the 
left  gallery  was  heard  the  call  "Hymn!  Hymn!" 
Everybody  looked  curiously  up.  There  were  there 
a  few  uniformed  young  men,  as  we  found  later, 
student-members  of  that  patriotic  secret  associa- 
tion organized  under  the  patronage  of  the  reaction- 
aries— a  stroke  of  Suvorin — to  watch  the  progres- 
sive students.  The  orchestra  replied  to  the  call  with 
remarkable  alacrity,  and  the  public  rose  dutifully 
smiling  and  stood  to  the  beautiful  hymn.     But  new 

107 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

shouts  were  heard.  The  choir  must  join  in.  The 
curtain  rose  obediently,  and  the  entire  cast  of 
"The  Maid  of  Orleans,"  Charles,  Agnes,  Jean  d'Arc, 
and  Lionel,  Burgundy  and  England ;  the  people  and 
knights  were  already  properly  grouped  and  joined 
in  the  hymn  with  the  orchestra  accompaniment. 
The  public  again  arose  politely  and  listened  stand- 
ing. The  demonstration  was  not  yet  at  an  end.  It 
was  reported  that  the  hymn  was  sung  three  times  in 
the  other  theatres,  hence  that  should  occur  also 
here.  And  the  public  patiently  rises  for  the  third 
time,  and  lets  the  song  float  over  it.  The  thin, 
black-bearded  young  man,  however,  rubs  his  hands 
with  which  he  joined  in  the  applause  but  shortly 
before,  throws  a  significant  glance  to  his  neighbors, 
and  hastens  out.  I  do  not  know  to  this  day  wheth- 
er he  was  an  entrepreneur  of  the  public  resort,  or 
a  penny-a-liner  who  had  arranged  an  interesting 
piece  of  local  news. 

Thus  I  came  to  see  the  birth  of  one  of  those 
patriotic  demonstrations  of  which  the  papers  were 
full  in  the  following  days.  The  impression  was  any- 
thing but  striking.  The  fine  hand  of  the  police 
could  be  detected  in  the  arrangement  as  well  as  in 
the  audience.  It  was  a  forced  demonstration  that 
no  one  could  avoid.  I  remember  from  my  boy- 
hood the  explosive  enthusiasm  after  the  outbreak 
of  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  and  the  evening  after 
the  battle  of  Sedan.  In  man's  estate  I  was  a  non- 
participating  observer  of  patriotic  demonstrations 

io8 


THE    PEOPLE'S    PALACE 

in  Hungary;  my  heart  beat  fast  at  home  as  well 
as  in  Hungary  under  the  stress  of  sympathy.  That 
was  a  real  storm  of  feeling.  Here — wet  straw  that 
would  not  bum.  Worse.  An  obedient  participa- 
tion— woe  to  him  who  did  not  participate!  and 
then  a  sarcastic  wink  felt  as  a  compensation  for  the 
coercion  just  experienced. 

The  difference  was  never  clearer  to  me  between 
free  citizens  and  Russian  subjects,  between  national 
sentiment  and  obedience,  as  at  these  patriotic  dem- 
onstrations under  police  supervision  and  inspiration. 

And  now  I  looked  at  the  public  more  carefully. 
Where  was  the  "people"  among  the  thousands  sit- 
ting in  the  theatre,  or  eddying  up  and  down  the 
colossal  halls?  not  one  hundred,  not  fifty  men  or 
women  in  the  dress  of  the  common  people.  All  of 
it  what  is  known  in  St.  Petersburg  as  the  "gray 
public,"  officials,  business-men,  the  class  with  an 
income  of  two  or  three  thousand  rubles.  I  saw  high- 
school  instructors,  students  with  their  girls,  mo- 
distes, the  good,  small  bourgeois,  that  often  stand 
morally  and  mentally  high  above  the  fashionable 
world ;  but  the  people,  in  our  sense  of  the  term,  the 
workingman,  the  peasant,  for  whom  the  popular 
house  was  really  built,  in  whose  name  the  Czar  was 
made  to  contribute,  and  to  whom  the  building  is 
dedicated,  these  were  absent,  and  had  to  be  absent, 
because  they  do  not  possess  the  schooling  that  would 
enable  them  at  all  to  enjoy  the  offerings  of  the 
"Narodni   Dom."     The  court  may  be  persuaded 

109 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

that  with  such  an  institution  they  are  marching  in 
the  vanguard  of  civiHzation,  and  that  something  of 
the  future  state  has  been  reahzed  with  an  institution 
that  even  the  repubUcs  of  the  West  do  not  possess ; 
but  the  Russian  patriots  who  are  indeed  living  for 
their  nation,  and  who  would  free  it  from  the  fetters 
of  ignorance  and  superstition,  only  shake  their  heads 
sadly  at  this  Potemkinism.  Sand  for  the  eyes  of 
the  philanthropic  Czar,  another  winter  resort  for 
the  St.  Petersburg  middle  class;  for  the  people 
neither  "panem"  nor  "circenses,"  but  for  the  paid 
eulogists  a  theme  at  which  enthusiasm  may  be 
kindled — that  is  the  "  Narodni  Dom,"  the  pride  of 
St.  Petersburg.  In  Zurich,  in  Frankfort,  in  any 
place  with  real  popular  education,  this  "Narodni 
Dom"  would  be  an  ideal  people's  house,  adapted  to 
inspire  sentiment  of  citizenship  and  patriotism,  and 
to  elevate  the  general  culture  level.  In  St.  Peters- 
burg it  only  shows  the  good  intentions  of  the  Czar 
and  his  consort,  and  the  fundamental  corruption 
of  the  regime.  A  sober,  enlightened,  culture-loving 
people  would  not  submit  to  the  autocracy  of  bu- 
reaucratic dictation  shown  above.  It  makes  ideal 
"people's  houses,"  but  takes  care  that  as  far  as 
possible,  this  house  be  kept  free  from  the  people. 


XII 

Russia's  financial  future 

I  HAD  a  long  and  exhaustive  conversation  about 
the  material  welfare  of  the  Russian  people  with 
a  statesman  to  whose  identity  I  am  not  at  liberty 
to  furnish  even  the  slightest  clew,  if  I  am  faithfully 
to  carry  out  my  promise  to  guard  against  his  rec- 
ognition as  my  informant.  They  were  several 
hours  of  searching  criticism,  such  as  I  had  never 
listened  to,  from  a  man  who  through  long  years 
had  himself  been  active  in  a  prominent  position, 
an  outpouring  quite  permeated  by  the  most  hope- 
less pessimism,  and  stated  with  a  passion  that  con- 
trasted oddly  with  the  gray  hair  and  deeply  fur- 
rowed face  of  the  speaker.  My  references  to  him 
were  of  such  a  nature  that  he  felt  it  safe  to  allow 
himself  the  most  uncompromising  plainness  of 
statement.  But  I  carried  away  the  impression 
that  it  would  be  sufficient  to  give  the  Russian  states- 
men the  possibility  to  speak  freely,  and  there  would 
be  left  no  stone  unturned  in  that  wicked  structure 
that  is  called  "the  Russian  government,"  so  great 
is  already  the  accumulation  of  bitter  anger  even 
among  those  of  whom  it  would  be  supposed  that 

III 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

they  are  the  real  leaders  of  the  state.  The  autoc- 
racy cannot  even  utilize  the  forces  that  are  at  its 
disposal. 

"Yes,  fate  is  cruelly  upsetting  all  our  calcula- 
tions with  this  war,"  said  the  statesman,  in  answer 
to  my  question  as  to  the  probable  effect  of  the  war 
on  the  Russian  economy.  "  No  one  even  suspects 
what  catastrophe  we  are  facing,  thanks  to  the  policy 
that  is  just  now  celebrating  its  greatest  triumph." 

"Is  not  that  a  paradox,  your  excellency?" 

"No,  not  at  all.  The  triumph  of  our  policy  is 
the  money  reserve  at  our  disposal,  which  enables 
us  to  mobolize  without  borrowing.  But  only  near- 
sightedness can  find  therein  additional  justification 
of  this  economic  policy,  which,  on  the  contrary, 
receives  with  its  triumph  also  its  death-blow." 

"May  I  have  a  fuller  explanation?" 

"It  may  be  easily  given.  Financial  and  fiscal 
considerations  have  destroyed  our  economy.  You 
are  surprised  at  this  statement.  But  one  must 
understand  this  system.  The  creation  of  a  gold- 
reserve,  the  formation  of  a  fiscal  balance  even  at  the 
expense  of  the  internal  forces  of  the  nation,  are, 
under  certain  conditions  a  necessity.  For  a  back- 
ward agrarian  state  it  is  necessary,  before  all  else, 
to  join  the  more  advanced  countries  in  fiscal  econ- 
omy and  guaranteed  values,  and  if  that  requires 
sacrifices,  it  pays,  in  the  end,  in  the  greater  credit 
facilities,  I  might  say  by  the  greater  financial  de- 
fense of  the  state." 


RUSSIA'S    FINANCIAL    FUTURE 

"And  your  excellency  believes  that  the  internal 
development  of  the  nation  was  thereby  neglected, 
just  as  an  athlete  develops  the  muscles  of  his  limbs 
at  the  expense  of  his  heart  muscles?" 

"Certainly;  I  accept  the  analogy.  We  have  in- 
creased our  fighting  efficiency,  and  have  paid  for  it 
by  internal  weakening.  I  repeat  that  there  was  no 
other  way,  if  we  ever  were  to  pass  from  the  natural 
to  the  money  system.  This  would  be  the  right  time 
to  employ  the  credit  thus  secured  for  internal 
strengthening.  But  the  war  has  upset  our  calcula- 
tions and  not  only  has  it  consumed  our  cash  re- 
serves, but  will  also  compel  us  to  make  new  sacri- 
fices. We  are  in  the  position  of  a  man  who  is  still 
out  of  breath  from  running,  but  must  begin  running 
anew  in  order  to  save  his  life,  and  may  only  too 
easily  get  a  stroke  of  apoplexy." 

"  Has  not  the  industrial  development  in  the  west- 
ern part  of  the  country  strengthened  the  national 
finances?" 

"No;  on  the  contrary,  it  has  involved  sacrifices. 
And  we  cannot  expect  salvation  from  these  either. 
We  have  a  yearly  increase  of  two  million  souls,  and 
our  entire  industry  does  not  employ  more  than  two 
million  workmen.  Our  national  existence  must  still 
depend  for  a  long  time  on  our  agriculture,  and  this, 
so  far  from  advancing,  is  becoming  poorer  from 
year  to  year." 

"On  account  of  the  industrial  policy?" 

"No;  but   you  should  not   forget   that   this  in- 

8  113 


THE    LAND    OP    RIDDLES 

dustrial  policy  has  by  no  means  mastered  the  sys- 
tem. Nay,  had  the  spirit  whence  our  industrial 
policy  originated  been  the  ruling  spirit,  our  agri- 
culture would  also  have  been  in  a  better  position; 
for  that  is  the  spirit  of  enlightenment.  But  now 
the  strength  of  the  soil  is  decreasing;  and  the  peas- 
ant has  no  manure,  nor  is  he  acquainted  with  any 
system  of  cropping  under  changed  conditions  of 
fertility." 

"And  why  is  nothing  done  for  the  uplifting  of  his 
economic  insight?" 

"You  must  ask  that  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  al- 
mighty police  and  not  of  me.  I  am  of  the  humble 
opinion  that  hunger  is  beneficial  neither  to  the  soul 
nor  to  the  body ;  but  in  that  department  where  there 
is  more  power  than  in  ours,  it  is  believed  that  knowl- 
edge is  under  all  conditions  injurious  to  the  soul. 
Also,  that  too  many  people  should  not  come  together 
and  take  counsel  of  one  another;  in  the  opinion  of 
our  government,  no  good  can  come  of  it.  We  had 
appointed  commissions  for  the  uplifting  of  the  peas- 
antry, for  road-construction,  for  the  regulation  of 
questions  of  credit;  but  always  the  results  were 
only  conflicts  between  the  provincial  corporations, 
the  zemstvos,  and  the  government." 

"What  was  the  cause  of  these  conflicts?" 

"The  tradition  and  the  guiding  principle  of  the 
present  system,  which  I  can  only  designate  as  the 
principle  of  gagging.  An  administration  that  does 
not  oppress  the  peasantry  is  not  yet  to  be  thought  of. 

114 


RUSSIA'S    FINANCIAL    FUTURE 

Our  peasant  needs  nothing  so  much  as  travelling 
agricultural  teachers.  But  what  would  be  the  end 
of  such  teaching?  To  Siberia  direct.  Fear  of  the 
intelligent  classes  has  already  become  a  mania. 
Intelligence,  if  it  pleases  you,  is  revolution;  only  no 
contact  with  Liberal  elements.  The  salvation  of 
our  people  lies  in  its  isolation." 

"But  that  is  the  regime  of  a  conquered  country! 
Are  not  the  rulers  themselves  Russians  ?  How  can 
they  be  so  cruel  to  their  own  flesh?" 

"The  police  official  is  no  Russian.  He  is  quite 
free  from  national  sentiment ;  he  is  only  an  oppressor, 
a  detective.  Our  ministry  of  the  interior  is  merely 
a  great  detective  bureau,  a  monstrous  and  costly 
surveillance  institution.  When  the  notorious  '  third 
division '  was  abolished  and  subordinated  to  the  min- 
istry of  the  interior  it  was  considered  a  step  in  ad- 
vance. But  it  was  not  the  ministry  of  the  interior 
that  absorbed  the  'third  division,'  but  the  reverse. 
We  no  longer  have  administration,  but  only  sur- 
veillance, arrest,  deportation.  Shall  I  tell  you? 
Our  commission  worked  honestly.  It  consisted  of 
noblemen,  high-minded  patriots,  who  took  part 
in  working  out  a  project  for  the  improvement  of 
economic  conditions.  Only  three  hundred  copies 
of  the  report  were  printed ;  it  was  not  meant  for  gen- 
eral circulation.  But  the  result  of  the  labors  under- 
taken at  our  instance  was  the  arrest  of  the  outspoken, 
upright  critics.  Do  you  consider  that  an  encourage- 
ment for  patriotic  endeavor?     Our  merchants  and 

"5 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

our  zemstvos  have  opened,  in  the  last  six  years,  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  schools  without  one  kopek 
of  state  aid,  and  with  a  yearly  expenditure  of  four 
million  rubles.  The  instinct  for  what  is  necessary 
is  therefore  present.  Our  society  should  only  be  let 
alone  and  we  also  might  go  through  the  same  de- 
velopment, perhaps  in  a  slower  measure,  which 
Germany  has  passed  through  with  such  momentous 
success  in  the  last  thirty  years — from  an  agricultural 
state  dependent  on  the  weather  to  a  mighty  indus- 
trial country.  But  Germany  is  a  constitutional 
state  and  we  are  a  police  state.  Germany  has  a 
middle  class ;  we  have  none,  and  the  formation  of  such 
a  class  is  prevented  by  every  possible  means.  The 
commercial  schools  are  subjected  to  annoying  con- 
ditions because  they  are  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  ministry  of  finance,  where,  naturally,  a  different 
spirit  prevails.  The  commercial  guilds  are  making 
enormous  material  sacrifices,  spending  annually,  be- 
sides the  four  millions  for  maintenance,  five  addi- 
tional millions  on  buildings,  only  to  retain  their  au- 
tonomy, to  keep  in  their  own  hands  the  staffs  of  in- 
struction and  inspection,  and  to  possess  a  greater 
elasticity  of  adaptation  to  local  conditions.  This 
sacrifice  is  overlooked,  and  the  slightest  exhibition 
of  free  initiative  is  jealously  suppressed." 

"Your  excellency,  I  find  that  one  cannot  discuss 
the  least  question  of  pedagogy  or  economics  in 
Russia  without  touching  high  politics." 

"Very  true.  You  may  see  from  that  to  what 
ii6 


RUSSIA'S    FINANCIAL    FUTURE 

a  pass  we  have  come.  We  have  been  going  back- 
ward uninterruptedly  for  the  last  twenty  years.  The 
nobility  is  losing  its  estates  because  it  has  not  learn- 
ed to  manage  them,  and  has  not  recovered  to  this 
very  day  from  the  abolition  of  serfdom.  But  the 
land  does  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  peasants,  who 
need  it,  but  into  those  of  the  merchants.  The  ag- 
ricultural proletariat  remains  unprovided  for.  The 
peasant  cannot  raise  the  taxes.  The  soil  here  gives 
fourfold  returns;  in  Germany  eightfold  returns.  It 
pays  at  the  same  time,  this  side  of  the  Dnieper, 
ten  to  fifteen  per  cent,  annually  for  tenure ;  in  Eng- 
land two  to  three  per  cent. ;  in  France  and  Ger- 
many four  to  five  per  cent. ;  and  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Dnieper,  where  long  tenures  are  in  vogue, 
five  to  six  per  cent.  Remember  that  this  is  a 
yearly  tenure.  It  is  a  premium  on  soil  robbery. 
Sixty  rubles  for  the  tenure  of  one  desyatin.  The 
peasant  cannot  raise  that  amount,  and  yet  he  is 
compelled  at  the  same  time  to  pay  taxes.  Year 
after  year  hunger  visits  entire  governments,  for  the 
peasants  are  utterly  impoverished  and  have  not 
even  seed.  With  an  empty  stomach  and  a  dark 
mind  the  peasant  must  bear  family,  communal, 
and  government  burdens." 

"  I  read  something  similar  two  years  ago  in  a  book 
by  an  Englishman." 

"You  mean  The  Russian  Conditions,  by  Lanin, 
from  the  Fortnightly  Review.'' 

"  Quite  right,  your  excellency.  But  I  considered 
117 


THE    LAND    OP    RIDDLES 

the  description  overdrawn.  Moreover,  I  cannot 
conceive  how  abuses  could  be  so  clearly  painted  as 
in  that  book,  the  statements  of  which  your  excel- 
lency now  confirms,  without  any  prospects  of  re- 
dress." 

"  Who  is  to  give  redress  ?" 

"The  Czar." 

"The  Czar  is  living  behind  a  Wall  of  China.  He 
has  never  visited  a  'duma'  (city  council),  never  a 
zemstvo  (district  council),  never  a  village,  never 
an  industrial  centre.  He  is  kept  by  the  camarilla 
in  constant  dread,  and  is  so  closely  watched  that  he 
sees  not  a  finger's-breadth  of  heaven,  much  less  of 
earth.  He  rejoices  when  an  occasional  quarrel 
breaks  out  among  the  ministers,  for  he  then  has  the 
opportunity  to  learn  here  and  there  a  fragment  of 
truth." 

"  And  does  no  one  succeed  in  representing  to  him 
conditions  as  they  are?" 

"  I  will  make  a  confession  to  you.  Not  very  long 
ago  I  myself  prepared  a  paper,  not  bearing  my  name 
— that  would  have  offered  certain  difficulties — but 
anonymous,  and  had  it  transmitted  to  the  Czar  by 
a  trustworthy  person.  For  eight  days  there  was 
great  joy  at  the  court.  The  Emperor  and  the  Em- 
press were  delighted  to  know  where  the  trouble  lay 
and  how  it  was  to  be  remedied.  Then  the  whole 
matter,  as  it  were,  vanished  and  was  forgotten." 

"Then  that  already  is  pathological." 

A  shrug  of  the  shoulders  was  his  answer.  "Above 
ii8 


RUSSIA'S    FINANCIAL    FUTURE 

all  things  there  is  the  great  anxiety  and  fear  at  the 
responsibility.  There  is  also  a  weakness  on  account 
of  conscientious  scruples.  The  Emperor  knows 
nothing  thoroughly  enough  to  enable  him  to  over- 
come the  arguments  of  a  skilled  sophist,  and  he  is 
too  indulgent  to  say  to  one  of  his  counsellors,  '  Sir, 
you  are  a  cheat.'  He  hears  in  the  reports  only 
praise  of  somebody,  never  any  censure.  For  he  has 
a  great  dread  of  intrigue,  and  not  without  good  rea- 
son. The  atmosphere  is  a  fearful  one  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  every  autocrat.  The  Czar  is  pathetically  well- 
meaning,  and  is  modesty  itself,  but  he  is  not  the 
autocrat  for  an  autocracy,  w^ho  must  be  equal  to 
his  task." 

"And  what,  in  your  excellency's  opinion,  should 
be  done  to  help  the  country?" 

"  No  more  than  the  rest  of  the  world  has  already 
accomplished.  Abolition  of  the  police  system,  se- 
curity of  personal  freedom,  abolition  of  the  censor- 
ship, discontinuance  of  the  persecution  of  sectari- 
ans, who  are  our  best  subjects,  and — I  say  the  word 
quietly — a  constitution." 

"And  would  the  country  really  be  helped  there- 
by?" 

"  Unconditionally.  With  these  little  concessions 
to-day  any  political  convulsion  could  be  avoided, 
and  the  intelligent  class  freed  from  its  fetters.  No 
one  knows  what  will  be  offered  ten  years  from 
now." 

"Are  there  prospects  of  this  concession?" 
J19 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"Not  the  slightest.  On  the  contrar>%  whoever 
falls  under  the  suspicion  of  unconditional  approval 
of  the  present  system  may  be  morally  destroyed 
at  any  time." 

"What  will  then  be  the  end?" 

"That  the  terror  from  above  will  awaken  the 
terror  from  below,  that  peasant  revolts  will  break 
out — even  now  the  police  must  be  augmented  in 
the  interior — and  assassination  will  increase." 

"And  is  there  no  possibility  of  organizing  the 
revolution  so  that  it  shall  not  rage  senselessly?" 

"  Impossible.  Our  rural  nobleman  is,  to  be  sure, 
not  a  junker;  but  the  strength  of  the  regime  con- 
sists in  the  exclusion  of  any  understanding  between 
the  land-owners  and  the  peasants  because  of  the 
social  and  intellectual  chasm  between  them." 

"Your  excellency,  I  remember  a  saying  of 
Strousberg's,  who  was  a  good  business  man,  '  There 
is  nowhere  a  hole  where  there  once  was  land.'  One 
leanis  to  doubt  that  here  in  Russia.  There  is  not 
one  with  whom  I  have  spoken  who  would  fail  to 
paint  the  future  of  this  country  in  the  darkest 
colors.  Can  there  be  no  change  of  the  fatal  policy 
that  is  ruining  the  country?" 

"  Not  before  a  great  general  catastrophe.  When 
we  shall  be  compelled,  for  the  first  time,  partly  to 
repudiate  our  debts — and  that  may  happen  sooner 
than  we  now  believe — on  that  day,  being  no  longer 
able  to  pay  our  old  debts  with  new  ones — for  we 
shall   no   longer  be   able   to   conceal   our  internal 


RUSSIA'S    FINANCIAL    FUTURE 

bankruptcy  from  foreign  countries  and  from  the 
Emperor — steps  will  be  taken,  perhaps,  towards  a 
general  convention.     No  sooner." 

"Is  there  no  mistake  possible  here?" 

"  Martin  Luther  hesitated  as  long  as  he  had  not 
seen  the  pope,  no  longer  after  that.  Whoever,  like 
myself,  has  known  the  state  kitchen  for  the  last 
twenty-five  years,  doubts  no  longer.  The  autoc- 
racy is  not  equal  to  the  problems  of  a  modem 
great  power,  and  it  would  be  against  all  historical 
precedents  to  assume  that  it  would  voluntarily 
yield  without  external  pressure  to  a  constitutional 
form  of  government." 

"  We  must  wish,  then,  for  Russia's  sake,  that  the 
catastrophe  come  as  quickly  as  possible?" 

"  I  repeat  to  you  that  it  is  perhaps  nearer  than 
we  all  think  or  are  willing  to  admit.  That  is  the 
hope;  that  is  our  secret  consolation." 

Such  was  the  substance  of  my  long  interview 
with  one  of  the  best  judges  of  present-day  Russia, 
from  which  I  have  omitted  only  those  places  and 
versions  which  would  render  their  author  easily 
recognizable.  For  the  rest,  I  must  say  here  that, 
with  slight  variations,  the  statements  of  all  the 
other  competent  persons  whom  I  had  the  oppor- 
tunity to  meet  agreed  with  those  of  my  present 
informant.  The  unwritten  public  opinion  of  Rus- 
sia is  absolutely  of  the  same  mind  in  its  judgment 
of  existing  conditions;  it  differs  only  as  to  the 
remedies. 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"We  are  near  to  collapse — an  athlete  with  great 
muscles  and  perhaps  incurable  heart  weakness," 
repeated  the  statesman  at  parting.  "We  still 
maintain  ourselves  upright  by  stimulants,  by  loans, 
which,  like  all  stimulants,  only  help  to  ruin  the  sys- 
tem more  quickly.  With  that  we  are  a  rich  coun- 
try with  all  conceivable  natural  resources,  simply 
ill-governed  and  prevented  from  unlocking  its  re- 
sources. But  is  this  the  first  time  that  quacks 
have  ruined  a  Hercules  that  has  fallen  into  their 
hands?  Whoever  shall  free  us  from  these  quacks 
will  be  our  benefactor.  We  need  light  and  air, 
and  we  shall  then  surprise  the  world  by  our  abilities 
and  achievements." 


XIII 

THE    RUSSIAN    FINANCES 

IT  was  shortly  after  the  Port  Arthur  naval  catas- 
trophe that  I  sought  out  a  bank  director,  with 
whom  I  had.  become  acquainted,  to  talk  with  him 
upon  the  financial  effects  of  the  war,  that  had  had 
such  noteworthy  results  on  the  floors  of  European 
exchanges.  To  my  astonishment,  I  found  the  com- 
fortable bank  director  very  calm. 

"The  system  will  still  help  us  out,"  said  he, 
evasively,  to  my  question  whether  Russia  would 
have  to  face  a  financial  crisis  after  the  war. 

"What  system?"  said  I. 

The  bank  director  adjusted  his  eye-glasses  and, 
with  round  eyes,  gazed  at  me  for  a  while.  Then, 
with  that  burst  of  candor  which  so  often  surprises 
us  in  the  Russians,  he  began: 

"We  are  not  children,  after  all,  and  neither  you 
nor  I  is  dancing  to  the  government  music  to  which 
others  are  keeping  time.  We  may,  therefore,  talk 
it  over  calmly.  Well,  we  have  a  great  drum,  with 
which  there  can  be  no  marching  out  of  line.  It 
drums.  We  have  never  as  yet  stopped  our  pay- 
ments, like  France,  Austria,  or  Turkey.     We  are, 

123 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

therefore,  punctual  payers,  hence  we  shall  again  se- 
cure money." 

"  Is  this  a  serious  argument?"  I  asked. 

"God  forbid!"  was  the  answer.  "We  have  paid 
to  secure  future  credit.  But  it  seems  that  this 
policy  of  honest  debtor  is  wiser  than  the  occasional 
discontinuance  of  payment,  which  allows  some  ad- 
vance but  involves  the  loss  of  credit.  We  can  al- 
ways repeat  to  the  public  that  wishes  to  buy  our 
bonds,  'Russia  is  honest;  Russia  pays;  you  need 
have  no  fear  here  of  shrinkage.'  And  so  the  pub- 
lic buys." 

"  But  the  banker  must  know  that  the  liberality 
is  not  real,"  I  rejoined. 

"And  if  he  does  know  it?  Is  it  the  banker's 
business  to  initiate  the  public  into  the  secret  sci- 
ences? Do  not  forget  that  no  government  pays  to 
the  world  such  commissions  for  loans  as  we  do. 
Prussia  pays  one-half  per  cent.,  Austria  one  and  a 
half  per  cent.,  we  pay  three  per  cent. ;  and,  con- 
fidentially, it  does  not  end  with  that,  but  the  issu- 
ing banks  also  get  their  six  per  cent.,  especially 
when  they  appear  reluctant  at  first.  For  what 
reason  should  a  commission  of  three  to  six  per  cent, 
be  paid  where  the  business  is  as  bad  as  it  is?  It 
was  Offenheim  who  said,  '  You  don't  build  railroads 
by  moral  maxims.'  And  high  finance  says  that  divi- 
dends and  bonuses  are  not  paid  with  moral  maxims." 

"According  to  my  perhaps  unbusiness-like  opin- 
ion, this  is  not  much  better  than  stealing." 

124 


THE    RUSSIAN    FINANCES 

"Very  unbusiness-like,  indeed,  my  friend.  The 
banking  world  needs  no  Nietzsche  to  stand  on  the 
other  side  of  good  and  evil.  Ethics,  like  religion, 
is  only  for  the  masses.  Just  calculate  what  a  com- 
mission of  three  to  six  per  cent,  means  on  a  loan  of 
five  hundred  to  a  thousand  million  rubles  that  we 
shall  surely  need  in  this  war.  Let  us  say  only 
three  per  cent.,  officially.  That  means  thirty  mill- 
ions— more  than  sixty  million  marks.  Do  you  then 
think  that  the  banks  belong  to  the  Salvation  Army, 
to  imagine  that  they  should  renounce  such  a  trans- 
action?" 

"  Slowly,  slowly.  You  said  at  first  that  Russia 
will  need  in  this  war  about  a  milliard  rubles.  That 
would  be  contrary  to  what  I  have  heard  from  other 
very  reliable  sources — namely,  that  the  cash  reserve 
is  supposedly  equal  to  about  a  milliard  rubles." 

"  I  will  bet  you  that  in  three  months  we  shall  not 
have  left  a  single  kopek  of  this  milliard,  assuming 
that  it  exists.  In  agreement  with  military  experts, 
who,  between  ourselves,  are  not  at  all  optimistic,  I 
estimate  the  duration  of  this  war  at  twelve  to 
eighteen  months  at  least.  With  our  management, 
every  month  costs  us  at  least  a  hundred  million 
rubles.  Thus  you  see  that  a  milliard  will  not  be 
sufficient." 

"  Well,  let  us  say  that  the  banks  cannot  reject 
the  business,  still  they  must,  in  the  first  place,  dis- 
pose of  the  securities,  which  will  not  be  so  easy,  since 
the  French  are  thoroughly  satiated  with  the  bonds, 

125 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

and,  as  the  fall  in  the  rate  of  exchange  has  recently 
shown,  confidence  in  these  bonds  is  no  longer  any 
too  great." 

"They  may  drop  still  further,"  said  the  banker, 
smiling.  "The  fall  in  the  rate  of  exchange  would 
have  been  still  worse  had  not  our  banks  received  a 
strict  order  not  to  turn  over  the  deposited  bonds 
to  their  owners  during  these  days  of  convulsion." 

"How?  I  do  not  understand  this.  The  issue  of 
the  deposited  securities  to  their  owners  is  delayed?" 

"Yes,  my  friend,  that  is  being  done.  You  again 
do  me  the  honor  to  forget  in  my  office  that  we  are 
in  Russia.  Even  worse  things  are  done  here.  At 
the  order  of  the  minister  of  finance,  the  owners  of 
the  bonds  who  wish  to  withdraw  their  deposits  are 
given  only  a  few  hundreds  or  thousands  of  rubles 
for  the  most  pressing  needs,  but  they  do  not  get 
their  bonds.  This  is  in  order  to  prevent,  by  all 
means,  the  bonds  being  thrown  on  the  market  and 
thus  increasing  the  panic." 

"  But  that  can  be  done  only  here.  You  have  no 
such  power  abroad." 

"Well,  the  first  alarm  did  cost  a  respectable  sum. 
Then  the  foreign  bondholders  came  to  the  rescue 
and  intervened  for  their  own  interest.  The  price  of 
the  bonds  was  maintained,  especially  in  Germany." 

"Why  particularly  in  Germany?" 

"  Because  it  fluctuates  less  in  France.  There  it 
is  in  the  hands  of  small  investors  who  do  not  run  to 
the  treasury  at  the  first  opportunity.     It  is  not  as 

126 


THE    RUSSIAN    FINANCES 

strongly  intrenched  in  Germany,  and  must  be  sup- 
ported there." 

"Very  well,  then,  you  support  my  reasoning,  and 
you  say  that  the  bond  values  are  maintained  arti- 
ficially alone.  How  can  you  say,  then,  that  they 
may  be  augmented  at  will  by  new  issues  ?" 

"  I  say  that,  because  the  buyers  are  an  amorphous 
mass  that  crystallizes  just  as  little  as  a  combination 
of  producers  is  met  by  a  combination  of  consumers. 
The  masses  may  be  frightened  for  a  while,  but  in 
the  long  run  they  are  irresistibly  led  to  spoliation  by 
the  great  combinations  of  capital,  and  the  act  of 
creating  current  opinion  is  well  known  in  high  finan- 
cial circles." 

"You  forget  the  independent  press." 

The  banker  made  a  very  peculiar  grimace.  Then 
he  said:  "That  is  not  nice  of  you.  I  am  speaking 
to  you  as  if  to  r.  member  of  the  profession  —  like 
one  augur  to  another.  And  when  we  come  to  speak 
of  your  own  profession,  you  turn  out  to  be  a  simple- 
ton. How  can  you  speak  of  an  independent  press, 
when  imder  the  pressure  of  the  high  finance  of  the 
Russian  and  German  governments?" 

"You  will  pardon  me.  I  honor  your  upright- 
ness equally  with  that  of  the  greatest  of  my  pro- 
fession. But  I  must  stop  at  that.  Newspapers 
are  still  guided  by  morality.  And  I  am  willing  to 
bet  anything  that  among  our  German  papers  only 
a  vanishing  fraction  is  susceptible  to  the  arguments 
of  Witte  and  his  associates." 

127 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"And  what  becomes,  then,  of  the  milHons  that 
our  ministry  of  finance  is  spending  to  secure  good 
will  in  the  papers  towards  our  finances?" 

"  I  do  not  want  to  suspect  any  one;  but  the  Ger- 
man papers  that  I  know  well  are  incorruptible." 

"Well,  let  us  say  that  the  radical  or  socialistic 
press  is  inaccessible,  and  cannot  be  bought  either 
by  our  ministry  of  finance  or  by  the  German  bank 
combinations.  There  still  remains  the  influence  of 
the  German  government,  that  has  its  reasons  for  not 
allowing  the  weakening  of  Russia  to  too  great  an 
extent.  For  this  is  still  the  keystone  of  the  con- 
servative system  in  Europe,  and  this  influence  suf- 
fices to  keep  the  unfriendly  critics  of  our  financial 
conditions  from  all  the  leading  German  papers. 
That  is  not  even  an  official  favor.  I  consider  it 
quite  logical  for  serious  papers  not  to  play  mean 
tricks  on  their  foreign  office.  But  as  to  the  other, 
the  extremely  radical  writings,  they  have  no  sig- 
nificance for  the  financial  world;  and  you  will  not 
doubt,  at  this  day,  that  Germany  is  doing  her  best 
to  keep  us  in  good  humor." 

"  Yes,  I  see  with  shame  and  resentment  how  the 
German  government  has  been  transformed  into 
something  akin  to  a  Russian  police  ally,  with  the 
blessing  of  Count  Biilow." 

"Who  surely  knows  what  he  is  doing." 

"  Perhaps  I  myself  do  not  believe  that  Germany 
has  reason  to  seek  Russian  security,  even  though 
there  be  certain  limits  even  for  friendly  services; 

128 


THE    RUSSIAN    FINANCES 

which  Hmits  have  long  been  passed,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  dignity  of  the  German  empire." 

"  I  am  also  willing  to  belive  all  that  you  have 
told  me  about  the  influence  of  the  high  finance,  the 
Russian  noble,  and  German  diplomacy.  Yet  I  can- 
not conceive  how  the  mass  of  investors — and  after 
all  it  is  they  who  are  to  be  considered — will  per- 
manently pay  a  much  higher  price  for  securities 
than  corresponds  to  their  intrinsic  value,  as  is  the 
case  with  the  Russian  securities,  according  to  the 
information  given  me  by  Russian  statesmen." 

"Permanently?  Some  day  it  will  stop.  But 
when  ?  Even  the  autocracy  or  the  social  structure 
will  not  maintain  itself  permanently.  But  mean- 
while there  is  no  power  on  earth  to  prevent  the 
great  banking  institutions  from  earning  thirty  mill- 
ion rubles  or  more,  when  there  is  a  chance.  There 
will  be  a  great  bargaining,  especially  since  the 
French  government  will  exert  itself  strenuously  to 
prevent  future  issue  of  Russian  bonds ;  for  every  new 
issue  depresses  the  value  of  former  issues,  and  in 
these  a  great  portion  of  the  French  national  wealth 
is  invested.  In  the  end,  however,  German  influence 
will  prevail.  Germany  will  advance  us  the  new 
funds,  because  Germany  wishes  to  render  us  a  ser- 
vice ;  for  Germany  feels  itself  from  day  to  day  more 
and  more  isolated  in  Europe,  and  we  are  still  not  to 
be  despised,  either  as  friends  or  enemies,  in  spite  of 
Port  Arthur.  Hence  the  German  investor  must 
help  out ;  and,  after  all,  he  is  not  making  a  bad  trans- 
')  129 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

action  when  he  buys  a  four-per-cent.  bond  at  let 
us  say  ninety." 

"How  so?" 

"Well,  the  bank  interest  is  now  three  per  cent. 
When  four  rubles  are  paid  on  an  investment  of 
ninety  rubles  having  a  par  value  of  one  hundred 
rubles,  then  the  valuation  of  Russian  government 
securities  is  not  quite  seventy.  And  that  may  con- 
tinue for  a  long  time." 

"Do  you  consider  that  the  real,  intrinsic  value?" 

"The  stock  exchange  knows  no  intrinsic  value. 
It  only  knows  tendencies.  One  hundred  rubles' 
worth  of  Russian  government  securities  can  always 
be  disposed  of  at  seventy,  if  all  the  strings  do  not 
break." 

"  You  are  evading  me.  I  asked  for  your  personal 
opinion  on  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  Russian  bonds." 

"  I  will  give  you  an  answer.  As  long  as  our  Rus- 
sian peasant  is  able  to  starve  and  to  sell  his  grain, 
as  long  as  there  are  gendarmes  to  aid  the  tax-col- 
lector, and  people  who  are  willing  to  make  further 
loans  to  us,  so  long  is  the  payment  of  coupons  as- 
sured. Beyond  that  the  foreign  bondholder  has  no 
right  to  inquire." 

"  Please  tell  me  whether  in  your  opinion  there  is 
a  hidden  deficit  in  the  Russian  budget,  or  whether 
there  is  none." 

"  I  am  telling  you  that  as  long  as  there  are  people 
who  are  willing  to  make  further  loans  to  us  we  shall 
pay  the  interest.     Were  our  budget  a  real  one,  we 

130 


THE    RUSSIAN    FINANCES 

should  not  need  to  contract  new  debts  in  order  to 
pay  the  interest  on  the  old  ones." 

"That  is  what  I  wanted  to  know.  And  do  you 
consider  Russia  a  really  insolvent  country,  that 
cannot  really  pay  its  debts,  and  cannot  bear  the 
burdens  of  modem  national  life?" 

"On  the  contrary,  Russia  is  intrinsically  so  rich 
a  land  in  uncovered  treasures  that  it  only  needs 
another  and  a  just  regime  to  pay  its  debts  and  to 
assume  still  further  burdens." 

"And  this  other  regime?" 

The  banker  pointed  to  the  east.  "  Our  future  is 
being  decided  there.  If  it  goes  hard  with  us  there, 
it  may  become  better  here  more  quickly  than  is 
suspected." 

"Hence,  worse  for  the  bankers,"  said  I,  jokingly. 

"People  accustom  themselves  to  honesty  when 
there  is  no  other  way,"  answered  the  banker,  also 
jokingly.  "And  when  universal  honesty  comes 
into  vogue,  it  will  no  longer  be  a  shame  to  be 
honest." 

With  this  I  parted  from  the  banker,  whose  pleas- 
ing cynicism  always  amused  me,  the  more  so  since 
I  recognized  in  him  the  essence  of  sterling,  honor- 
able views.  Later  interviews  with  other  members 
of  the  financial  world  showed  me  that  my  first  in- 
formant conveyed  the  generally  accepted  opinion. 
Isolated  Germany  will,  for  political  reasons,  and  as 
a  favor  to  the  Russian  regime,  support  Russian 
credit;  the  great  German  banks  will  not  renounce 

131 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

the  splendid  loan -issuing  business ;  and  the  German 
investor  will  permit  the  imposition  upon  him  of  the 
Russian  bonds.  "  Sheep  must  be  shorn,"  coolly  said 
one  of  the  brokers  to  me,  when  I  expressed  a  doubt 
that  the  German  imperial  government  would  pay 
for  its  political  business  with  the  hard-earned  pen- 
nies of  its  investors.  Your  Bismarck  did  not  hesi- 
tate for  a  moment  to  throw  Russian  values  into  the 
street,  and  to  destroy  thereby  milliards  of  German 
property,  when  it  suited  his  political  convenience. 
Your  present  government  will  not  be  at  all  embar- 
rassed in  sacrificing  again  milliards  of  German  prop- 
erty to  place  us  under  obligation.  And,  finally,  no 
one  is  compelled  to  it.  Whoever  is  not  able  to  fig- 
ure sufficiently  to  see  how  Wishnegradski  prepared 
the  balances  to  deceive  the  eye  had  better  keep  his 
money  in  his  stocking  and  not  buy  securities.  If 
he  does  buy  them,  let  him  bleed.  Another  ex- 
plained, however:  "The  Germans  will  buy  our 
bonds.  When  no  other  bait  is  attractive  there  is 
still  one  left  to  us.  When  the  landowner  sells  his 
crops,  and  is  thinking  of  investing  his  proceeds,  the 
banker  will  say  to  him,  '  How  about  a  little  of  the 
Russian  securities  ?'  '  But  those  are  supposed  to 
be  insecure,'  answers  the  good  fellow.  'The  idea! 
This  is  only  a  Jewish  trick.  Probably  on  account 
of  Kishinef.'  And  the  good  fellow  will  hand  over 
his  shekels,  for  he  cannot  be  fooled  about  Kishinef." 


XIV 

A    FUNERAL 

YOU  are  here  at  an  opportune  moment,"  said 
one  of  my  St.  Petersburg  friends,  who  had 
rendered  me  important  .services  in  my  studies. 
"  Mikhailovski  died  suddenly,  and  will  be  buried  to- 
morrow." 

"  Mikhailovski  ?"  I  was  almost  ashamed  to  admit 
that  I  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  services  of  this 
man,  and  did  not  understand  what  interest  his  fu- 
neral could  have  for  me.  My  friend  had  pronounced 
the  name  as  if  no  tolerably  well-educated  person  in 
all  the  wide  world  could  have  the  least  doubt  as  to 
its  significance.  I  had  to  acknowledge  again  how 
little  we,  in  the  West,  know  of  Russian  life.  I  am 
not  of  the  people  who  have  read  least  about  Russia, 
but  Mikhailovski 's  name  was  as  unfamiliar  to  me 
as  that  of  Julius  Rodenberg  to  a  Chinaman. 

My  friend  enlightened  me.  Mikhailovski  was  the 
editor  of  the  most  widely  read  Russian  monthly, 
Ruskoye  Bogatstvo  (Russian  Wealth),  a  sociologist, 
and  the  recognized  intellectual  leader  of  radical 
young  Russia.  Nowhere  in  the  world  do  the  week- 
ly and  monthly  magazines  play  such  a  role  in  the 

^33 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

intellectual  life  of  a  nation  as  in  the  great  Slavic 
empire.  This  may  be  accounted  for,  on  the  one 
hand,  by  the  meagre  development  of  the  daily  press, 
existing  under  strict  censorship,  and  on  the  other 
by  the  high  degree  of  scientific  and  practical  devel- 
opment. The  nation  is  still  in  a  state  of  nature, 
and  for  such  a  nation  there  is  really  but  one  voca- 
tion—that of  general  education.  This  need  of  gen- 
eral culture  is  in  accordance  with  the  general  model- 
ling of  Russian  social  Hfe.  There  is  very  extensive 
and  fruitful  social  intercourse;  visitors  on  estates 
remain  for  weeks.  This  requires  a  periodically  re- 
newed supply  of  topics  for  conversation.  And, 
finally,  the  nation  is  in  a  state  of  high  political  ten- 
sion. ParHamentary  debates  wherein  this  political 
tension  may  be  discharged  are  entirely  lacking. 
Thus  there  remains  only  the  home-bred  discussions, 
which,  again,  are  fed  only  by  the  reviews.  Thus 
it  happens  that  the  weekly  and  monthly  publica- 
tions serve  at  once  as  books,  newspapers,  and  par- 
liaments, and  that  the  greatest  writers  are  enrolled 
either  as  contributors  or  editors  on  the  staffs  of  the 
reviews.  Mikhailovski,  however,  was  jointly  with 
the  writer  Korolenko  the  editor  of  the  greatest 
radical  monthly;  a  man  who  was  the  object  of  a 
reverence  such  as  is  only  accorded  in  the  West  to  a 
great  orator  or  party  leader. 

"Plehve  is  a  lucky  dog,"  continued  my  friend. 
"The  outbreak  of  the  war  has  forced  the  entire 
Russian   opposition   camp   into   an   armistice.     It 

134 


A    FUNERAL 

would  be  considered  unpatriotic  to  create  internal 
difficulties  for  the  government,  that  needs  all  its 
power  for  an  external  conflict.  It  is  at  least  in- 
tended to  see  whether  there  would  be  any  new 
provocations  on  Plehve's  part  before  further  steps 
are  taken  in  the  organization  of  the  opposition.  At 
any  other  time  an  occasion  like  Mikhailovski's 
funeral  would  lead  to  great  demonstrations  and  colli- 
sions with  the  Cossacks.  Now  it  will  only  amount 
to  expressions  of  devotion ;  and  it  is  quite  probable 
also  that  the  police  will  avoid  a  collision.  Hence,  you 
may  take  part  without  danger  in  a  demonstration  by 
intellectual  St.  Petersburg,  where,  at  any  other  time, 
you  would  be  exposed  at  least  to  a  few  blows  of  the 
knout  or  a  temporary  arrest  at  the  police  station." 

"Why  do  you  speak  of  the  knout  and  the  Cos- 
sacks?" I  asked.  "Are  not  the  police  sufficient  to 
maintain  order?" 

"They  are  not  sufficient  in  mass-demonstrations, 
especially  where  these  are  participated  in  by  the 
student  body.  Formerly  use  was  made  of  the  "  dvor- 
niks"  (janitors)  and  butchers'  clerks  to  bring  the 
students  to  reason.  But  that  is  no  longer  practi- 
cable. The  "dvomiks"  and  butchers'  clerks  have 
hesitated  of  late  to  come  out  against  the  students. 
They  have  discovered  that  these  persons  really  take 
their  lives  in  their  hands  for  the  people's  sake,  and, 
therefore,  are  no  longer  willing  to  do  the  jailer's 
work.  And  so  the  Cossacks  must  hold  forth;  and 
they  know  no  pity." 

13.S 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

We  therefore  agreed  to  meet  in  front  of  the  de- 
ceased publicist's  house.  Such  a  Russian  funeral 
is  a  full  day's  work.  It  begins  early  in  the  fore- 
noon, and  it  is  dark  when  you  return  home.  In 
front  of  Mikhailovski's  house  I  saw  Korolenko — a 
still  robust  man,  with  very  curly  gray  hair  and 
beard — and  almost  all  the  master-minds  of  the  in- 
tellectual life  of  St.  Petersburg.  Even  the  recently 
retired  minister,  Sanger,  showed  himself.  Many  a 
man  was  named  to  me  with  great  reverence.  The 
foreign  pubhc  knows  not  one  of  them,  and  so  I  may 
forego  the  repetition  of  their  names.  It  should  be 
mentioned  here,  however,  that  in  Russia  a  dis- 
tinguished man  tries  to  show  his  distinction  by  his 
dress  and  appearance,  as  far  as  possible.  Here  an 
original  way  of  dressing  the  hair  is  one  of  the  marks 
of  distinction,  and  so  one  sees  many  striking  heads. 
There  is  no  getting  along  without  some  posing.  I 
noticed,  too,  that  scarcely  one  of  the  forty  or  fifty 
men  I  had  become  acquainted  with  was  absent 
from  the  funeral.  Now,  these  forty  or  fifty  per- 
sons belong  to  most  widely  different  social  and  polit- 
ical groups,  so  that  the  radical  publicist  could  not 
have  possibly  had  the  same  significance  for  each  of 
them.  But  every  one  was  present  and  was  noticed. 
In  fact,  every  new  appearance  was  noted  by  the 
crowd.  Most  of  them  knew  one  another.  The 
loose  but  yet  effective  organization  of  opposition  in 
Russia  had  never  been  so  clear  to  me  as  now.  The 
unwritten  public  opinion,  I  had  frequently  noted, 

136 


A    FUNERAL 

orders  every  intellectual  to  take  part  in  this  mute 
demonstration  against  the  regime;  and  this  dicta- 
tion is  more  readily  submitted  to  than  the  legiti- 
mate one.  I  do  not  believe  our  newspapers  in  the 
West  could  even  approximately  replace  this  inti- 
mate contact  established  day  by  day  among  these 
thousands  in  a  manner  mysterious  to  me.  It  is  as 
if  St.  Petersburg  were  fermented  by  some  medium 
in  which  every  impulse  is  propagated  with  furious 
speed.  And  people  have  an  incredible  amount  of 
time  for  politics  in  St.  Petersburg.  People  in  Rus- 
sia have  in  general  more  time  than  we  hurrying 
Westerners  can  conceive. 

The  coffin  was  carried  from  the  house,  where  a 
religious  service  had  already  taken  place,  to  the 
church  across  the  street,  and  there  a  new  service 
was  begun.  The  church  was  so  quickly  filled  that 
hundreds  had  to  remain  outside.  But  I  was  ad- 
vised by  my  companion  to  go  to  the  cemetery ;  for 
the  funeral  proper  takes  place  only  there,  and  it  is 
of  importance  to  secure  a  good  place.  We  attended 
to  various  matters  in  the  city,  and  reached,  after 
more  than  a  half-hour's  ride  in  the  sleigh,  the  ceme- 
tery where  rest  the  city's  celebrities.  Names  are 
again  mentioned  to  me  with  respect  and  reverence. 
What  an  unsubstantial  thing  is  fame,  after  all.  The 
few  sounds  that  fill  one  with  awe  fall  on  the  un- 
heeding ear  of  another.  Another  sphere,  and  noth- 
ing remains  of  the  words  that  are  esteemed  in  the 
first. 

137 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

We  stamp  through  the  snow  along  the  narrow 
paths  between  the  gravestones  towards  the  spot 
where  the  deceased  is  to  find  his  last  resting-place. 
A  densely  packed  multitude  is  already  pushing 
towards  the  newly  dug  grave.  Near-by  a  mauso- 
leum, with  open  portico,  is  already  entirely  occupied 
by  women.  We  attempt  to  find  a  place  there.  We 
are  met  by  hostile  glances.  Then  one  of  the  ladies 
approaches  me  and  says  something  in  Russian, 
which,  of  course,  I  do  not  understand.  I  express 
my  regrets  in  German  and  French.  She  now  ex- 
cuses herself,  declaring  that  she  had  made  a  mis- 
take. A  word  from  my  companion,  and  the  ex- 
citement is  at  once  allayed. 

"It  was  nothing,"  he  explained  to  me.  "They 
did  not  know  whether  you  were  a  spy  or  a  foreigner. 
They  know  it  now,  and  are  no  longer  uneasy.  Peo- 
ple know  one  another  in  this  circle.  But  you  are 
an  entirely  new  person  that  must  first  be  classified." 
Evidently  my  companion  played  a  prominent  part 
in  this  society  without  statutes,  for  a  place  was 
made  for  me  with  the  greatest  readiness;  so  that  I 
found  myself  among  none  but  celebrities,  whose 
names  were  mentioned  by  the  young  ladies  stand- 
ing near  in  respectful  whispers.  They  were  most- 
ly writers,  scholars,  and  professors;  among  them 
was  also  the  author  of  a  work  on  Siberia,  which  I 
had  read  with  horror  years  ago.  He  had  already 
spent  twelve  years  of  his  life  in  exile,  and  now  he 
was  again  exposing  himself  to  oppression  by  the 

138 


A    FUNERAL 

authorities.  Although  the  police  were  still  out  of 
sight,  it  would  have  hardly  been  advisable  for  a 
spy  to  appear  here.  Among  the  thousands  of  men, 
women,  and  girls  who  were  already  densely  crowded 
about  the  grave,  there  was  not  a  single  person  that 
was  not  acquainted  with  at  least  a  part  of  those 
present.  Suddenly  there  was  a  commotion  in  the 
crowd.  A  name  is  mentioned  and  repeated  resent- 
fully. Suvorin.  Who  is  Suvorin?  The  editor  of 
the  Novoye  Vremya.  He  was  supposedly  seen  by 
some  one.  What  impudence!  W^here  is  he?  He 
shall  at  once  leave  the  cemetery!  But  it  was 
only  a  false  alarm.  Suvorin  would  not  dare  to 
come  here;  and  why  not?  I  inquire  about  the 
nature  of  his  paper.  Is  it  a  Libre  Parole  or  In- 
transigeant  ?  Is  it  nationalistic  or  clerical  ?  An  old 
gentleman  who  hears  my  question  replies,  turning 
towards  me:  "No-ism,  scoundrelism."  I  see  how 
the  word  is  winged  and  is  approvingly  repeated  in 
a  widening  circle.  Yes,  the  most  widely  circulated 
sheet  in  Russia,  which  enjoys  government  patron- 
age and  the  best  and  most  authentic  news  from  all 
the  departments,  is  branded  here  with  the  deepest 
contempt  by  the  flower  of  Russian  intelligence  as 
a  well-poisoner,  a  worthless  cynic.  Russia  is  surely 
a  remarkable  land,  it  does  not  grant  a  license  for 
baseness  even  to  anti-Semitism.  The  hours  follow 
one  another.  The  snow  under  our  feet  had  turned 
to  water,  and  then  again  to  ice,  but  it  is  no  long- 
er possible  to  leave  one's  place.     We   ure  ranged 

139 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

shoulder  to  shoulder,  the  men  scarcely  able  to  make 
room  enough  for  the  women  to  keep  them  from 
being  crushed  against  the  trees  and  gravestones. 
An  elderly  woman,  with  remarkably  delicate  feat- 
ures, and  wrapped  in  a  thin  cloak,  is  standing 
quite  near  me.  She  has  been  here  since  ten  o'clock 
this  morning — that  is,  more  than  four  hours.  I  feel 
almost  ashamed  of  my  fur  coat  and  my  felt  over- 
shoes when  I  see  that  bit  of  intelligent  poverty 
standing  near  me.  My  neighbor  and  myself  suc- 
ceed, without  her  noticing  it,  in  placing  her  between 
our  coats,  so  that  she  might  feel  somewhat  warmer. 
And  thus  thousands  of  women  and  girls  are  stand- 
ing, old  and  young,  down  to  the  unsophisticated 
school-girl,  pretty  and  homely,  all  of  them  patient 
and  orderly ;  and  what  impressed  me  especially  was 
the  absence  of  the  least  trace  of  flirting  between 
the  men  and  women  students.  All  of  them  were 
possessed  by  one  sentiment — by  political  passion 
and  the  yearning  for  freedom.  I  am  not  foolish 
enough  to  think  that  in  Russia  erotic  tendencies 
are  eliminated  in  the  intercourse  between  the  youth 
of  the  opposite  sexes,  but  nothing  of  it  is  noticeable 
here,  and  I  must  assume  from  this  that  frivolit}^ 
and  cynicism  have  no  abode  in  this  generation. 
All  those  who  are  standing  here  run  the  gantlet 
of  imprisonment  and  deportation,  and  frivolous 
thoughts  have  no  room  here. 

We  hear,  at  last,  the  indistinct  noise  that  heralds 
the  approach  of  a  great  crowd  of  people.      Then 

140 


A    FUNERAL 

the  noise  becomes  more  differentiated — it  changes 
into  song.  It  is  the  student  body  following  the 
coffin  with  songs  of  mourning  over  the  miles  of 
road.  They  sing  beautifully,  in  wonderful  poly- 
phonic choirs,  do  the  Russians ;  even  envy  must  fol- 
low the  song.  They  have  a  perfect  ear.  After  the 
long  waiting  the  final  deliverance  through  its  sol- 
emn notes  affects  the  heart  strangely.  And  now  a 
new  wave  of  approaching  humanity.  The  impos- 
sible becomes  possible,  the  students  crowd  past  us 
and  gather  about  the  grave.  The  coffin  is  lifted 
over  our  heads  and  into  the  noose  of  the  dull  grave- 
digger.  A  moment  of  silence.  Then  the  pope  reads 
a  short  prayer  and  gives  a  short  funeral  sermon  on 
the  departed  brother  in  Christ.  Then  only  does  the 
funeral  ceremony  proper  begin.  The  pope  steps 
aside.  A  white-haired  man,  a  university  professor, 
whose  name  passes  from  mouth  to  mouth,  extols 
the  departed  champion  of  freedom.  He  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  poet  speaking  in  swinging  verse.  Then 
a  woman.  Then  a  student.  Then  a  woman  again, 
in  irregular,  improvised  order.  Then  my  neighbor, 
the  man  from  Siberia,  calls  out  to  the  students. 
Then  begins  a  song  full  of  fervor  and  passion.  Then 
a  woman  speaks  again,  and  after  her  a  young  girl. 
The  police,  hundreds  of  them,  with  many  officers, 
are  crowded  quite  into  the  background.  It  is  bet- 
ter so.  For  of  all  the  speeches  I  distinguished  but 
one  word,  spoken  in  passionate  tones,  "Svoboda! 
Svoboda!"    (Liberty!    Liberty!).     And,    as   if   that 

141 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

word  were  a  signal,  it  calls  forth  sighs  and  weeping 
and  the  gnashing  of  teeth.  It  is  an  indescribable 
drama,  a  terribly  exciting  scene.  I  cannot  control 
myself,  and  cry  out  to  my  neighbor,  "Make  the 
poor  girl  keep  still,"  and  I  point  towards  the  police, 
but  I  am  not  understood.  They  have  all  been 
seized  by  a  reUgious  fanaticism  that  makes  martyr- 
dom bliss.  How  truly  lovable  they  are,  these 
educated  people  that  still  have  an  ideal  and  are 
strange  to  the  base  satiety  that  so  sadly  deforms  our 
Western  youth!  And  how  the  heart  contracts  at 
the  thought  that  all  this  beautif  al  enthusiasm  must 
vanish  without  result ;  that  the  longing  and  inspira- 
tion are  helplessly  shivered  against  the  brutality  of 
the  Cossacks  and  gendarmes! 

We  left  the  consecrated  ground  in  a  strange  in- 
toxication after  a  tiring  struggle  with  the  densely 
packed  crowd  that  would  move  neither  forward  nor 
backward.  "  It  is  not  the  business  of  the  police  to 
maintain  order,  but  only  to  keep  people  under  sur- 
veillance." I  have  been  astonished  to  this  very  day 
that  no  one  was  trampled  to  death  in  the  crowd. 

I  heard  a  few  days  later  that  the  statistician 
Annenski,  an  old  man  of  sixty-five,  was  arrested 
for  having  delivered  one  of  those  impassioned 
speeches  at  the  grave.  A  number  of  men  of  irre- 
proachable character,  among  them  the  historian  who 
was  the  first  speaker  there,  testified  that  Annenski 
was  not  one  of  the  speakers.  I  could  have  testified 
to  that  myself,  for  I  stood  among  the  speakers,  and 

142 


A    FUNERAL 

each  one  was  named  to  me.  But  the  police  would 
not  give  up  its  victim.  Annenski  was  still  in  con- 
finement when  I  left  Russia.  Now  he  is  banished 
to  Reval  for  four  years,  because  they  had  found  in 
his  house  a  few  numbers  of  Struve's  periodical. 

I,  however,  carried  away  with  me  from  Mikhail- 
ovski's  grave  the  certainty  that  the  coming  genera- 
tion is  lost  to  the  reaction.  Young  Russia,  in  so 
far  as  it  possesses  an  academic  education,  is  liberal, 
both  the  men  and  the  women.  And  thus  that  fu- 
neral day  was  for  me  the  most  hopeful  day  that  I 
had  lived  in  Russia. 


XV 

THE   CHINOVNIK    (tHE   RUSSIAN    OFFICIAL) 

CZAR  Nicholas  I.  is  known  to  have  been  a  great 
admirer  of  Gogol's  "Revizor."  Yet  a  more 
bitter  satire  on  Russian  officialdom  than  this  real- 
istic comedy  does  not  exist.  Plenty  of  utterances 
of  the  czars  who  have  followed  Nicholas  are  quoted 
to  show  that  none  of  the  supposedly  unlimited 
monarchs  of  Russia  has  been  in  the  least  hazy  as 
to  the  qualities  of  his  most  trustworthy  servants. 
When,  nevertheless,  fifty  years  after  the  death  of 
Nicholas  I.,  the  camorra  of  officials  makes  more 
havoc  than  ever,  and  obstructs  all  development  of 
the  Russian  nation  with  the  close  meshes  of  its 
organization,  as  with  a  net  of  steel  wire,  this  strange 
phenomenon  is  to  be  explained  only  in  two  ways. 
Either  the  czars  who  so  clearly  recognized  the  evil 
must  have  been  unscrupulous  cynics,  who  only 
laughed  at  corruption  and  had  no  feeling  for  the 
sufferings  of  their  people,  or  else  their  power  was 
not  sufficient  to  break  that  of  their  servants.  The 
omnipotence  of  autocracy  must  have  found  its 
limits  in  the  omnipotence  of  the  oligarchy  of  func- 
tionaries. The  first  of  the  possible  explanations 
may   be   set   aside   without   further   consideration. 

144 


THE    CHIxNOVNlK 

The  autocrats,  without  exception,  have  desired  the 
good  of  their  people,  and  have  been  personally  up- 
right men  and  lovers  of  justice.  If  they  had  been 
strong  enough  to  create  a  trustworthy  and  indus- 
trious official  service,  instead  of  their  idle  and  cor- 
rupt one,  they  would  certainly  have  done  so.  Only 
the  second  explanation,  then,  is  possible.  The 
power  of  the  czardom  has  had  to  capitulate  to  that 
of  the  oligarchy  of  officials. 

This  explanation,  however,  requires  a  further  one. 
What  wrecked  the  attempts  of  well-intentioned  au- 
tocrats at  reform  ?  These  men  did  not  understand 
joking;  and  open  opposition  to  orders  of  the  Czar  is 
absolutely  unthinkable,  when  punishments  such  as 
exile  to  Siberia  are  given  for  much  slighter  offences. 
Is  it  possible  that  the  Russian  nation  stands  moral- 
ly so  much  lower  than  all  others  that  honest  and 
industrious  servants  of  the  state  are  not  to  be  found 
at  all?  That  would  be  hard  to  believe.  For  if 
men  are  approximately  alike  in  any  one  particular 
it  is  in  average  morality.  The  Russian  is  not  more 
immoral  or  dishonorable  than  the  German  or  the 
Frenchman.  Fifty  years  ago  the  officials  in  Aus- 
tria and  Hungary  also  were  still  very  corrupt,  and 
Frederick  William  I.  was  obliged,  even  in  morally 
strict  Prussia,  to  use  all  his  energy  in  taking  steps 
against  the  state  officials,  who  acted  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  proverb,  "Give  me  the  sausage,  and  I'll 
quench  your  thirst"  (Gibst  du  mich  die  Wurscht, 
losch  ich  dich  den  Durscht).  Besides,  the  experi- 
lo  145 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

merit  of  regenerating  the  official  service  with  for- 
eigners has  also  been  tried  in  Russia,  especially  by 
Alexander  IL  In  the  imperial  library  at  St.  Peters- 
burg I  came  upon  a  little  French  pamphlet  in  which 
a  Russian  patriot  laments  in  the  most  passionate 
terms  because  Czar  Alexander  II.  was  surrounded 
by  an  impenetrable  wall  of  officials  from  the  Baltic 
provinces,  who  let  no  one  but  their  congeners  rise 
on  the  rounds  of  the  official  ladder.  The  com- 
plaints made  of  the  dictatorship  of  officials  were, 
however,  the  same,  although  it  was  not  denied  that 
in  industry  and  honesty  the  Germans  from  the 
Baltic  provinces  surpassed  the  native  Russians. 
Under  Alexander  III.  unmistakable  orthodox  opin- 
ions and  the  purest  possible  Russian  descent  were 
necessary  in  order  to  gain  the  good-will  of  the  omnip- 
otent Pobydonostzev  and  of  the  Slavophils.  The 
misery,  however,  remained  the  same,  except  that 
it  was  in  some  degree  relieved  by  the  greater  cor- 
ruptibility of  the  native  Russians.  For — to  show 
the  utter  preposterousness  of  the  whole  system— 
the  Russian  people  find  it  much  pleasanter  to  deal 
with  bribe-taking  officials  than  with  honest  ones. 
You  may  hear  it  said  often  enough  in  Russia,  "The 
Russian  autocracy  is  alleviated  by  the  ruble;  with- 
out the  ruble  life  would  not  be  at  all  endurable." 
There  must,  therefore,  exist  some  fatal  cause  which 
prevents  any  improvement  of  conditions.  Even 
evils  do  not  grow  old  without  some  necessary  rea- 
son for  their  existence. 

146 


THE    CHINOVNIK 

In  order  to  explain  this  it  must  be  clearly  under- 
stood what  the  Russians  really  complain  of  in  their 
officials.  They  thought  themselves  no  better  off 
imder  the  system  of  Alexander  II.,  with  the  infusion 
into  the  service  of  more  honest  and  industrious 
elements.  Hence  it  appears  not  to  be  primarily 
the  dishonesty  or  idleness  of  the  bureaucracy  which 
provokes  the  most  complaints.  This  is,  indeed,  the 
fact.  What  drives  the  Russians  to  despair,  and 
what  they  feel  to  be  the  grossest  evil  of  the  country, 
much  more  than  the  domination  of  the  Czar  alone, 
is  the  tyranny  of  the  official  caste,  which  forms  a 
state  within  the  state,  and  has  set  up  a  special  code 
of  official  morality  quite  peculiar  to  itself.  As  to 
how  far  the  possibility  of  such  a  class  development 
is  consistent  with  the  autocracy  as  such  will  be  in- 
quired into  below.  A  ring  of  officials  is  not  abso- 
lutely excluded  even  in  republics,  as  is  shown  by 
Tammany  Hall  in  New  York.  Only  in  constitu- 
tional states  it  rests  with  the  people  to  put  an  end 
to  evil  once  recognized,  but  in  an  autocracy  it  does 
not.  Before  going  further,  however,  it  is  necessary 
to  make  clear  to  the  foreign  reader  what  is  meant 
in  general  by  such  a  tyranny. 

Therefore,  let  us  say,  for  example,  that  you  have 
been  seen  on  the  street  with  a  person  who,  for  some 
reason,  and  naturally  without  knowing  it  himself, 
is  under  police  surveillance.  Of  course  you  your- 
self are  from  this  moment  under  suspicion,  and 
therewith  delivered  up  to  the  official  zeal  of  the 

147 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

whole,  widely  ramified  organization,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  holy  order.  From  that  time  forth 
letters  directed  to  you  do  not  reach  you,  or  else 
bear  a  mark  showing  that  by  a  remarkable  accident 
they  were  found  open  in  the  letter-box  and  had  to 
be  officially  sealed.  You  are  surprised  some  night 
by  the  visit  of  an  officer  and  of  a  dozen  sturdy 
police  officials,  who  rouse  your  children  from  their 
beds  and  search  through  your  house  from  garret 
to  cellar.  If  there  should  happen  to  be  found  in 
your  possession  a  German  translation  of  a  novel  of 
Tolstoi's,  or  any  book  or  newspaper  which  stands 
on  the  police  index,  with  which  you  naturally  are 
not  acquainted,  off  you  go  to  prison  with  the  agents 
of  the  law.  Here  you  remain,  well  taken  care  of, 
pending  a  thorough-going  investigation  of  the  facts 
of  the  case.  This  lasts  from  three  days  to  six 
months,  as  the  case  may  be,  according  to  your  popu- 
larity or  to  the  influence  which  your  friends  are 
able  to  bring  to  bear.  It  is  not  the  slightest  pro- 
tection for  you  that  you  are  a  well-known  house- 
holder, a  busy  physician  or  lawyer,  of  whom  it 
might  be  assumed  that  even  without  imprisonment 
he  would  not  immediately  turn  his  back  on  the 
place  of  his  profession.  To  prevent  the  danger  of 
collusion,  so  that  you  may  not  hide  the  traces  of 
your  crime,  you  remain  to  the  end  under  lock  and 
key,  with  the  invaluable  right  to  maintain  yourself 
meanwhile  at  your  own  expense.  You  will  endure 
this  little  inconvenience  calmly,  as  becomes  a  man, 

148 


THE    CHINOVNIK 

hoping  that  your  friends  will  take  care  of  your  wife 
and  children  during  this  time  and  not  let  them 
actually  starve.  It  is  certainly  unpleasant  if  your 
pretty  daughter,  who  is  studying  history  or  art  or 
philology,  attracts  the  eye  of  the  sacred  "  herman- 
dad"  and  is  carried  off  some  night  as  a  political 
suspect,  and  you  can  find  by  no  pleading  in  what 
prison  she  is  kept  pending  investigation.  It  is  still 
more  vexatious  for  you  to  know  that  your  young 
son,  a  student,  is  in  the  hands  of  the  police,  since 
this  young  man  has  not  yet  learned  self-control, 
and  may  possibly  come  to  blows  with  his  torment- 
ors, who  drive  him  so  far  that,  finally,  in  order  to 
put  an  end  to  his  sufferings,  he  sets  himself  on  fire 
with  his  own  kerosene  lamp  and  ends  his  life.  I 
cite  here  only  facts  which  came  to  my  knowledge 
from  the  circle  of  highly  respected  families  which 
I  met  during  my  stay  of  barely  seven  weeks.  You 
yourself  are,  according  to  the  degree  of  your  offence, 
expelled  for  several  years  from  the  place  of  your 
profession  or,  at  the  worst,  exiled  to  Archangel  or 
Siberia.  Finally,  a  crime  on  your  part  is  not  nec- 
essary. It  is  sufficient  that  you  are  not  found 
loyal  and  respectful  to  the  police. 

These  evidently  are  little  unpleasantnesses  which 
do  not  sweeten  life  for  the  citizen  or  greatly  in- 
crease his  loyal  sentiments.  They  exert,  however, 
a  much  more  injurious  effect  on  those  who  are  in 
a  position  to  inflict  such  torments  on  people  who 
are  to  any  extent  in  their  disfavor.     Travellers  tell 

149 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

of  tropical  madness  which  seizes  Europeans  in  the 
torrid  zone.  Since  my  experiences  in  Russia  I  am 
no  longer  inclined  to  regard  this  phenomenon  as 
climatic.  There  is  only  one  madness,  that  is  the 
frenzy  of  domination  to  which  every  morally  weak 
person  is  exposed  when  his  lust  for  power  meets 
with  little  or  no  opposition.  This  phenomenon  is 
not  less  well  known  in  our  barrack-rooms,  where 
discipline  breaks  down  all  opposition,  than  in  pris- 
ons. Non-commissioned  officers,  and  also  many 
officers  and  prison  officials,  are  easily  seized  with 
this  madness,  which  is  nothing  but  the  spirit  of  the 
Praetorian  Guard  on  a  small  scale.  The  German 
abroad,  especially  the  young  German  noble,  is  most 
easily  susceptible  to  it.  He  even  likes  to  make  up 
to  himself  a  little  in  the  primitive  East  for  the  strict 
provincial  training  to  which  he  was  subjected  among 
the  loyal  and  more  moral  ideas  of  his  home.  Hence 
the  preference  of  Alexander  IT  for  German  officials 
caused  no  improvement  in  this  respect. 

In  addition  to  the  madness  of  power,  which  in 
itself  is  bad  enough,  there  is,  however,  still  another 
thing.  The  best  elements  in  Russia  do  not  select 
the  political  or  police  services.  The  pay  is  wretched, 
and  can  only  be  supplemented  by  illicit  revenues. 
These  illicit  revenues  arise  from  prompt  releases 
from  formalities,  for  which  the  interested  persons 
show  themselves  grateful,  and  from  carrying  into 
effect  orders  against  the  Jews,  who,  for  this  very 
reason  indeed,  cannot  be  better  established  legally, 

ISO 


THE    CHINOVNIK 

because  if  they  were  a  great  part  of  the  official  ser- 
vice would  lose  a  principal  source  of  revenue  from 
toleration-money.  Men  of  the  better  class  turn 
away  as  a  matter  of  course  from  a  career  which 
depends  upon  such  revenues.  Hence  it  is  not 
exactly  the  best  who  serve  as  executives  of  the 
power  of  the  state.  In  official  service  there  is  also 
another  aim — namely,  to  rise  constantly  to  higher 
and  more  lucrative  positions.  For  this  there  is 
only  one  rule,  that  of  maintaining  absolute  good 
conduct  in  the  eyes  of  the  higher  authorities.  The 
higher  authorities,  however,  consist  of  chinovniks, 
who  have  only  one  interest,  that  of  the  supremacy 
of  their  class  and  the  prevention  of  anything  that 
could  injure  its  omnipotence.  So  it  goes  on  up  to 
the  highest  oracle;  to  the  man  to  whom  primarily 
is  intrusted  the  protection  of  the  Czar  and  of  the 
autocracy;  to  the  minister  of  the  interior.  Imag- 
ine this  office  held  by  a  man  like  Plehve,  and  you 
will  understand  what  spirit  rules  under  the  pashas 
of  sleepy  villages  down  to  the  last  provincial  ham- 
let. Caesarian  madness,  aspiration  for  higher  posi- 
tions, class  interest,  all  work  together  to  produce 
entirely  conscienceless  libertines  and  barbarians, 
against  whom  there  is  no  protection  whatever.  In 
a  land  without  a  parliament  or  a  free  press  every 
complaint  has  only  the  effect  of  a  denunciation  of 
the  devil  to  his  grandmother.  The  complainant 
can  by  no  means  reckon  the  consequences,  even  if, 
indeed,  the  culprit  is  not  especially  rewarded  for  his 

151 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

official  zeal.  It  is  much  better  to  stand  in  with  the 
authorities,  not  to  kick  against  the  pricks,  but  to 
pay. 

And  the  Czar?  Either  he  hears  nothing  of  all 
these  things  or  they  are  represented  to  him  as  in- 
dispensable for  the  preservation  of  order.  If  it  is 
hard  to  make  a  successful  stand  even  in  constitu- 
tional states  with  parliament  and  press,  in  the  rare 
enough  cases  of  despotic  justice,  it  is  immensely 
harder  where  the  protection  of  authority  is  the 
highest  principle  of  government,  and  where  no  in- 
stitution whatever  exists  for  the  protection  of  the 
subject.  It  should  not  be  at  all  surprising,  then, 
that  the  reign  of  terror  from  above  tries  to  counter- 
mine the  terror  from  below.  Indeed,  it  is  only  a 
proof  of  the  patience  and  gentleness  of  the  Russian 
people  that  attempts  upon  official  criminals  are  so 
rare.  I  was  the  more  ashamed  when,  during  my 
stay  in  Russia,  I  read  that  German  statesmen  were 
hurling  words  of  condemnation  against  Russian 
patriots  who,  careless  of  their  own  lives,  had  de- 
clared war  against  the  brutal  officials.  However 
far  the  desire  to  preserve  a  good-neighborly  rela- 
tionship may  go,  a  German  politician  does  not  need 
to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  Russian  regime.  In 
doing  so  he  exposes  himself  to  the  condemnation 
which  that  regime  invariably  calls  forth  w^hen  peo- 
ple know  its  administrative  methods.  German 
authorities  ought  not  to  lend  their  assistance  to  a 
body  which  a  patriot  and  strong  monarchist  like 

152 


THE    CHINOVNIK 

Prince  Ukhtomsky,  the  friend  of  the  Czar,  called 
a  Camorra,  a  band  of  anarchists  in  office.  Our 
sympathies  ought  rather  to  go  out  to  those  who 
strive  to  gain  for  Russia  also  a  court  where  the 
shackled  nation  can  bring  its  cry  for  help  to  a  hear- 
ing— a  parliament,  however  modest ;  a  press  not  sub- 
jugated by  the  tyranny  of  the  police.  Only  by 
these  means  can  a  nation  full  of  good  qualities  be 
freed  from  the  reign  of  terror  of  the  chinovniks, 
from  the  Camorra  of  officials. 


XVI 

THE    SUFFERINGS    OF   THE   JEWS 

THE  brutal  persecutions  of  the  Jews  under 
Plehve  have  involved  unspeakable  misery;  but 
a  beneficial  effect  also,  not  to  be  underestimated. 
The  entire  public  sentiment  of  Russian  society  has 
become  friendly  to  the  Jews.  In  numerous  con- 
versations with  inhabitants  of  the  Russian  capitals, 
including  people  from  all  strata  of  society,  only  once 
have  I  heard  a  word  expressing  ill-feeling  towards 
the  Jews.  The  speaker  in  this  instance  was  a  colo- 
nel of  Cossacks,  on  his  way  to  the  front,  who  as- 
sured me  in  all  sincerity  that  the  English  are  a 
"vile  Jew-nation"!  With  this  exception,  all  pro- 
tested against  regarding  the  Russians  as  enemies  of 
the  Jews.  The  Jews  are  victims  of  the  murderous 
Russian  politics,  like  the  Poles,  the  Ruthenians,  and 
the  Liberals.  This  appeared  to  be  the  generally  ac- 
cepted idea.  The  natural  consequence  of  this  idea 
is  that  the  Jews  have  the  sympathy  of  all  parties 
opposed  to  the  government.  While  the  officials 
are  bringing  deliberately  false  accusations  against 
the  Jews,  unofficial  Russia  sides  with  the  latter.  The 
situation  is  similar  to  that  which  existed  in  the 

154 


THE    SUFFERINGS    OF    THE    JEWS 

West  before  the  emancipation  of  the  Jews,  when 
Liberal  political  doctrine  was  directly  inculcating 
philo-Semitism ;  the  only  difference  being  that  among 
the  people  of  Russia  no  anti-Semitic  feeling  what- 
ever exists.  Therefore,  during  any  crisis  of  assimi- 
lation consequent  upon  emancipation,  there  would 
be  little  fear  of  an  anti-Semitic  reaction  such  as  that 
experienced  in  the  West. 

There  is  one  class  which  is  pleased  by  the  per- 
petual hunting -down  of  the  Jews  by  the  Novoye 
Vremya  and  its  offshoots  in  anti-Semitism.  This 
is  the  class  of  small  tradesmen,  notorious  for  their 
dishonesty,  who  are  thankful  that  they  are  pro- 
tected from  Jewish  competition.  For  the  rest,  all 
Russia  wishes  the  repeal  of  the  laws  enacted  in  re- 
striction of  the  Jews. 

The  government,  of  course,  endeavors  to  persuade 
foreigners  that  to  permit  the  Jews  to  settle  beyond 
the  pale  would  mean  the  Judaization,  and  the  con- 
sequent ruin,  of  all  Russia.  This  assertion  is  made 
in  spite  of  their  knowledge  that  the  contrary  is 
true.  A  memorial  in  regard  to  the  Jews,  written 
in  1884  by  Ivan  Blioch,  and  pubHshed  by  the 
ministry  of  the  interior — The  Jewish  Question  in 
Russia — shows  by  statistics  that  the  greatest  per- 
centage of  pauper  peasants  is  found  in  the  Jewless 
governments  of  Moscow,  Tula,  Orel,  and  Kursk ;  that 
the  prosperity  of  the  peasantry  in  the  governments 
within  the  pale  is  incomparably  higher  than  in  the 
territory  from  which  the  Jews  are  excluded.     The 

155 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

arrears  of  revenue  in  districts  in  which  there  are  no 
Jews  are  three  times  as  great  as  in  the  pale.  As  a 
result,  the  land  purchased  by  peasants  by  means  of 
the  peasants'  banks  is  much  greater  in  extent  in  the 
latter  than  in  the  former  districts.  The  usurers 
who  advance  money  to  the  peasants  at  from  three 
hundred  to  two  thousand  per  cent,  are  without  ex- 
ception Christians.  The  assertion  that  the  Jews 
tempt  the  people  to  drunkenness  stands  morally 
upon  about  the  same  level  as  the  statement  that  the 
Jews  are  never  found  engaged  in  agriculture.  The 
latter  statement  is  true,  but  only  because  the  Jews 
are  not  allowed  to  live  in  the  open  country.  The 
government  has  now  monopolized  the  retail  sale  of 
spirits,  thus  driving  out  of  the  business  thousands 
of  Jewish  tavern-keepers.  This  measure,  however 
severe,  is  viewed  with  satisfaction  by  intelligent 
Jews  as  tending  to  improve  the  morals  of  the  Jew- 
ish masses. 

All  these  are  only  idle  excuses  in  justification  of 
the  policy  of  extermination  of  the  Jews,  which  policy 
has  in  reality  a  quite  different  cause.  Three  con- 
ditions have  already  been  cited,  any  one  of  which  is 
alone  sufficient  to  place  the  unhappy  Jews  of  the 
great  prison  state  in  an  especially  bad  situation,  and 
also  to  expose  the  regime  in  all  its  depravity — a 
depravity  almost  incomprehensible  to  western  Eu- 
ropeans. 

The  first  is  the  great  influence  which  the  rich 
Russian  usurers  possess  with  the  authorities.     If 

156 


THE    SUFFERINGS    OF    THE    JEWS 

Shylock  is  angry  with  the  merchant  prince  of  Venice 
because  the  latter  lends  money  without  interest,  in 
Russia  the  roles  of  the  contestants  are  reversed. 
The  Jew  also  exacts  usury  where  he  can — no  one  in 
seriousness  pretends  to  be  surprised  at  this,  in  view 
of  the  deliberate  demoralization  of  the  pale — but  in 
comparison  with  his  Russian  colleague  he  keeps 
within  modest  limits,  being  indeed  compelled  to  do 
so  by  his  circumstances.  He  necessarily  prefers  to 
keep  the  debtor  solvent  rather  than  to  drive  him 
out  of  house  and  home,  which  he,  the  Jew,  more- 
over, cannot  buy  in.  The  Russian  usurer,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  accustomed  to  show  no  mercy,  be- 
cause he  calmly  seizes  the  land  of  his  victim,  and 
either  leases  it  or  sells  it  at  a  profit  or  adds  it  to  his 
own  property.  For  a  great  part  of  the  Russian 
usurers  belong  to  the  guild  of  village  usurers. 
These  people  influence  the  under  authorities  with 
bribes,  while  the  great  speculators,  the  millionaire 
usurers  of  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg,  who  like- 
wise would  have  to  fear  the  milder  methods  of 
their  Jewish  competitors,  are  powerful  enough  to 
influence  senators  and  ministers  according  to  their 
wishes.  The  Russian  usurer,  therefore,  is  the  first 
complainant  and  enemy  of  the  Jews. 

The  second  and  more  powerful  cause  is  the  spirit 
of  Pobydonostzev,  the  fanatic  of  uniformity.  Com- 
bining in  himself  the  qualities  of  jurist,  theologian, 
and  scholastic,  he  is  too  barren  in  mental  powers  to 
master  the  conception  of  a  state  which  should  take 

157 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

into  account  any  diversity  of  creed  or  race.  Above 
all,  however,  any  toleration  would  undermine  the 
three  pillars  upon  which  alone  his  conception  of  the 
Russian  empire  can  rest  —  autocracy,  orthodoxy, 
and  Russianism.  For  the  preservation  of  this 
Asiatic,  uniform,  absolutist  regime,  or,  better,  of  the 
omnipotence  of  hierarchy,  it  is  above  all  necessary 
to  keep  the  people  in  absolute  subjection.  This, 
again,  is  possible  only  when  every  chance  of  learn- 
ing anything  else  than  their  own  condition  is  closed 
to  them.  A  prisoner  who  endangered  the  spirit  of 
blind  obedience  by  a  tendency  to  dispute  orders 
could  not  be  tolerated  in  a  prison.  As  little  can 
the  great  Russian  prison  state  endure  men  who 
might  lead  the  prisoner  to  think  whether  he  must 
be  absolutely  a  prisoner.  Of  such  thoughts,  how- 
ever, the  Jews,  who  are  subject  to  special  taxation, 
are  suspected  above  all  others.  Their  criminality 
is  certainly  of  the  smallest ;  they  are  the  most  punc- 
tilious of  tax-payers,  and,  moreover,  the  best-con- 
ducted citizens  in  the  world.  But  they  are — Heav- 
en knows  why  —  perhaps  because  of  their  Tal- 
mudic-dialectic  occupation,  perhaps  also  because  as 
pariahs  they  have  little  cause  to  be  enthusiastic 
over  the  ruling  order — they  are  inexorably  subtle 
critics  of  all  existing  things,  and  so  could  easily  up- 
set the  simple  minds  of  the  Russian  lower  classes. 
That  is  the  chief  reason  why  they  are  surrounded 
by  a  cordon  of  plagues.  The  paternal  precaution 
of  the  Russian  government  is  of  course  not  much 

158 


THE    SUFFERINGS    OF    THE    JEWS 

wiser  than  the  conviction  so  many  mothers  enter- 
tain of  the  unshaken  faith  of  their  children  in  the 
story  that  the  stork  brought  the  baby.  Quite 
without  Jewish  criticism  the  Russian  peasant,  un- 
der the  never-resting  lash  of  hunger,  begins  to 
think  and  to  grumble;  and  although  his  unruly 
sentiments  express  themselves  chiefly  in  the  specifi- 
cally Russian  form  of  the  organization  of  religious 
sects,  nevertheless  each  new  sectarian  shows  a  new 
desertion  from  Pobyedonostzev's  ideal  of  a  Russian 
subject.  Upon  the  organization  of  sects,  however, 
the  Jews  have  of  course  no  direct  influence  what- 
ever. 

The  third  cause  of  the  persecution  of  the  Jews  is 
to  be  found  in  the  Satanic  brain  of  Plehve,  who 
wishes  to  furnish  to  the  humane  Czar,  and  perhaps 
still  more  to  the  Czaritza,  who  has  western  Euro- 
pean ways  of  thinking,  an  indication  that  without 
the  Jews  there  would  be  no  opposition  whatever 
in  Russia.  For  this  purpose  he  not  only  has  the 
Jews  entered  more  strictly  on  the  police-registers, 
if  they  are  guilty  of  any  political  ofi^ence,  such  as 
being  present  in  a  forbidden  assemblage,  but  he 
also  directly  provokes  them,  in  order  to  drive  them 
into  the  ranks  of  the  revolutionaries  and  thereby 
to  compromise  the  latter.  In  Hungary  and  Bo- 
hemia ritual  murder  cases  were  incited  in  order  to 
give  the  Jews  a  lesson  to  remember,  and  to  make 
them  national — i.  e.,  more  Magyar  or  Czechic — in 
feeling,  since  they  stubbornly  persisted  in  remaining 

IS9 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

German.  In  Russia,  however,  they  are  driven  into 
the  camp  of  the  revolutionaries,  in  order  to  extir- 
pate the  former  and  to  cast  suspicion  upon  the 
latter.  Nevertheless,  some  governors,  who  in  other 
respects  readily  comply  with  the  directions  given 
from  above,  yet  dare  to  step  in  in  behalf  of  the 
Jews,  contrary  to  the  measures  appointed  by  higher 
authorities,  as  for  example,  Prince  Urussov,  gov- 
ernor of  Bessarabia,  who  is  to  be  thanked  that  in 
spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  Krushevan,  the  creature 
of  Plehve,  no  outbreaks  of  the  mob  against  the 
Jews  took  place  in  Kishinef  recently. 

As  personal  but  nevertheless  effectual  causes  of 
the  persecution  of  the  Jews,  the  anti-Semitism  of 
the  dowager  Empress  and  of  the  Grand-Duke  Sergius, 
governor-general  of  Moscow,  must  be  mentioned. 
Respectively  brother  and  wife  of  Alexander  III., 
they  conservatively  hold  to  his  opinions.  This  un- 
fortunate and  narrow-minded  man  had  been  per- 
suaded by  conscience-smitten  persons  that  Jewish 
army-contractors  were  the  cause  of  the  defeat  of  the 
Russians  in  the  Turkish  war ;  and  it  was  as  hard  to 
get  an  idea  out  of  his  head  as  to  get  one  in.  The 
inclination  of  the  Grand-Duke  Sergius  to  torture 
human  beings  amounts  to  a  disease.  He  can  sat- 
isfy it  most  easily  upon  the  defenceless  Jews. 

The  final  cause  of  the  persecution  of  the  Jews, 
and  one  which  is  regarded  by  many  people  as  the 
weightiest,  is  the  certain  income  which  legislation 
against   the  Jews   means   for   every   unscrupulous 

1 60 


THE    SUFFERINGS    OF    THE    JEWS 

official.  Most  of  the  laws  passed  against  the  Jews 
are  quite  impossible  of  execution,  or  are  executed 
only  in  a  very  imperfect  way,  thanks  to  the  cor- 
ruptibility of  the  Russian  officials.  "Absolutism 
palliated  by  corruption" — this  bitter  saying  fits  the 
case  of  the  Jews  best.  Yet  what  relieves  the  situa- 
tion for  them  in  a  certain  way  renders  it  worse  for 
them  in  another.  It  certainly  is  a  question  whether 
the  ransom-money  of  one  generation  will  not  be- 
come the  purchase-money  of  the  next.  The  Rus- 
sian bureaucracy  will  not  be  willing  to  renounce 
its  income  from  bribes  and  extortions.  Thus  it 
prevents  all  legislative  decrees  in  favor  of  the  Jews. 
These  poorly  paid,  much  feared,  but  still  despised 
officials  are,  in  the  inclined  plane  of  their  evil  con- 
sciences, cjuite  as  much  victims  of  the  system  as  the 
Jews,  but  in  a  different  way.  We  are  all  human, 
whether  Christian  or  Jew,  and  in  the  long  run,  under 
the  operation  of  the  most  depraved  of  all  rules, 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other  can  keep  himself  pure. 
The  worst  thing  that  has  happened  to  the  Jews, 
however,  is  not,  as  can  well  be  understood,  an  oc- 
casional "pogrom"  (riot),  in  which,  to  the  indigna- 
tion of  all  civilized  mankind,  defenceless  people  are 
slain  and  plundered  by  command  of  the  authorities. 
The  worst  is  the  restriction  to  particular  zones  and 
to  particular  callings.  That  is  systematic  mas- 
sacre, a  deliberate  policy  of  destruction  and  extir- 
pation. Even  if  the  misery  of  the  ghetto  has, 
thanks  to  the  strict  abstemiousness  of  the  Jews, 
II  i6i 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

failed  as  yet  to  kill  them  in  the  way  that  the  peas- 
antry, weakened  by  alcoholism,  are  killed  in  the 
famine  provinces,  nevertheless  the  moral  result  is 
frightful.  Even  the  iron  family  morality  of  the 
Jews  is  shaken  in  the  western  governments.  A 
deplorable  percentage  of  prostitutes  is  made  up  of 
Jewesses.  Experience  shows  that  sexual  depriva- 
tion is  the  beginning  of  every  other  form  of  degen- 
eration. Moreover,  the  matter  does  not  generally 
end  with  the  individual  who  sinks  into  prostitution. 
The  ethical  ideas  of  such  a  morally  defective  person 
spread  contagion  in  a  wide  circle.  Families  are 
broken  up,  or  unchastity  makes  its  way  into  them. 
The  whole  conception  of  life  becomes  different  when 
the  chastity  of  women  becomes  an  article  of  trade 
or  an  object  of  ironical  scepticism.  Still,  in  com- 
parison with  their  environment  even  these  Jews 
may  be  called  chaste,  for  they  are  merely  stained 
by  the  barbarism  of  the  Orient.  But  it  is,  never- 
theless, monstrous  that  in  a  Christian  country  the 
hard-won  sexual  morality  of  a  part  of  the  popula- 
tion, once  gained,  must  be  endangered  only  because 
malevolent  politics  will  have  it  so.  The  moral 
purity  of  the  Jews  and  of  the  Teutonic  races  has 
redeemed  the  world  from  the  deep  depravity  of  the 
Roman  decadence.  Now  a  Christian  state  policy 
destroys  a  part  of  the  iron  stability  of  this  moral 
acquisition  of  humanity. 

It  is  self-evident  that  whoever  can  tries  to  free 
himself  from  the  misery  of  the  ghetto.     Even  Rus- 

162 


THE    SUFFERINGS    OF    THE    JEWS 

sian  legislation  has  left  some  small  gates  open,  and 
through  these  the  struggling  Jews  squeeze  them- 
selves with  every  exertion  of  strength  and  cunning. 
Then  there  ensues  a  battle  between  brutality  and 
artfulness — one  not  lacking  in  elements  of  humor. 
The  authorities,  hostile  to  the  Jews,  try  of  course  to 
prevent  too  many  of  them  from  escaping  from  the 
ghetto  and  from  settling  in  cities  which  it  is  de- 
sired to  keep  as  free  from  Jews  as  possible.  The 
Jews,  however,  try  again  and  again  to  evade  the 
prohibitions  and  the  illegally  interpreted  ordinances 
and  to  settle  where  there  is  a  possibility  of  a  means 
of  livelihood.  Such  cities  are,  for  example,  St. 
Petersburg  and  Moscow.  The  martyrdom  which 
Jews  and  Jewesses  undergo  in  order  to  gain  the 
right  to  stay  in  these  cities  borders  on  the  tragic. 
A  non-resident  Jewess  is  not  allowed  to  study  in 
these  places,  but  may  live  there  as  a  prostitute. 
An  innocent  young  girl  wished  to  have  herself 
registered  as  a  prostitute,  so  that  she  might  attend 
the  university,  never  suspecting  what  formalities 
she  would  have  to  undergo  in  consequence.  In 
course  of  the  medical  examination,  however,  the 
circumstances  of  the  case  were  immediately  dis- 
covered, and  the  young  girl  was  punished  for  the 
attempted  deception  and  sent  away. 

A  well-known  Orientalist,  a  man  of  seventy  years, 
had  business  to  execute  in  Moscow  which  he  did  not 
succeed  in  finishing  before  night.  No  hotel  would 
have  taken  him  in;  and  he  could  not  endanger  any 

163 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

of  his  friends,  for  if  in  the  frequent  nocturnal  rang- 
ings  of  the  poHce  in  Jewish  dwelHngs  a  Jewish  guest 
without  a  passport  should  be  taken,  the  host  would 
lose  his  right  of  residence.  In  his  difficulty  the  old 
man  asked  a  railroad  official  how  he  could  pass  the 
icy-cold  night.  The  man  gave  him  the  good  advice 
that  he  should  seek  out  the  only  place  where  a  man 
is  permitted  to  take  a  room  and  spend  the  night 
without  a  passport  —  a  brothel.  Accordingly,  this 
man  of  seventy,  in  order  not  to  freeze,  was  obliged  to 
pass  the  night  in  a  room  with  a  drunken  prostitute, 
and  sat  until  morning  in  a  chair,  praying.  The 
man  who  related  these  facts  to  me  was  a  Russian 
author  widely  known  and  honored. 

A  Jew  who  for  five  years  has  paid  the  taxes  of  the 
first  guild  in  a  municipality  of  the  pale  receives 
permission  to  leave  the  pale  and  settle  elsewhere. 
He  must,  however,  gain  permission  for  each  mem- 
ber of  his  family  through  the  strictest  formalities. 
Woe  to  him  if  a  child  has  been  born  to  him  during 
that  time!  It  cannot  qualify,  and  it  may  easily 
happen  that  the  father  must  return  to  the  pale. 
A  Jewish  merchant  of  the  first  guild  in  Moscow  tried 
to  obtain  permission  to  send  such  a  child  to  school. 
Admission  was  refused,  because  he  did  not  possess 
the  necessary  papers.  The  father  appealed  to  the 
senate  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  asked  for  provisional 
permission  for  attendance  of  his  child  at  school 
until  the  passing  of  a  judgment  in  that  place.  The 
minister  of  justice,  Muraviev,  however,  entered  a 

164 


THE    SUFFERINGS    OF    THE    JEWS 

protest  against  this.  Therefore  the  father  was 
obliged  either  to  employ  private  tutors  or  to  let  the 
child  grow  up  without  instruction. 

Whoever  works  as  assistant  to  a  dentist,  and  has 
obtained  a  certificate,  may  open  an  office  for  him- 
self. The  only  requirement  for  this  is  that  it  shall 
be  well  fitted  up  and  that  nobody  shall  sleep  in  it. 
This  facilitation  is  granted  because  of  the  fact  that 
in  Russia  there  is  a  great  lack  of  dentists.  Yet  a 
Jewish  dentist  went  to  a  lawyer  and  complained 
that  he  had  fitted  up  his  office  and  had  handed  in 
to  the  police  his  request  for  leave  to  practise.  The 
police  waited  three  months,  then  came  and  ex- 
plained that,  since  he  had  not  practised  his  pro- 
fession for  three  months,  he  must  immediately  leave 
Moscow\  He  was  obliged  to  leave  his  house  imme- 
diately, and  wander  about  all  night,  because  he  could 
nowhere  find  lodging. 

Another  Jewish  dentist,  a  woman,  wished  to  take 
her  examination.  A  certificate  was  demanded  tes- 
tifying to  her  political  blamelessness.  When  she 
tried  to  obtain  this  it  was  refused  her,  since  she 
had  no  right  of  residence  there,  and  therefore  could 
not  demand  a  certificate! 

The  Jews  meet  these  tricks  of  the  authorities  with 
tricks  of  their  own.  They  pay  for  a  dentist's  cer- 
tificate, fit  up  an  office,  and  then  go  into  trade  in 
bed-feathers  or  calico.  The  police  official  who 
wishes  to  prove  whether  the  dentist's  profession  is 
really  practised  has  some  ruble  notes  slipped  into 

165 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

his  hand.  Very  recently  the  Jews  have  found  a 
means  to  become  known  as  Christians  without  bap- 
tism, which  they  shun.  Good-natured  priests,  who 
receive  nothing  at  all  for  a  baptism  but  a  large  price 
for  a  written  declaration  that  X.  Y.  is  an  orthodox 
Christian,  draw  up  such  declarations.  The  unbap- 
tized  Hebrew  comes  as  an  orthodox  Christian  to 
Great  Russia  and  carries  on  business,  while  the 
helpful  priest  receives  a  little  income  from  him. 

In  general,  the  Jew  must  be  able  to  pay;  in  that 
case  life  is  not  hard  for  him  in  Russia,  where,  as  I 
have  said,  no  anti-Semitic  feeling  whatever  exists 
among  the  people,  and  the  national  characteristics 
of  good-nature,  of  heartiness,  helpfulness,  and  po- 
liteness make  life  easy  and  pleasant.  But  woe  to 
the  poor  wretch  who  cannot  pay  at  every  step !  Woe 
to  the  struggler  who  wishes  to  better  his  lot!  Woe 
to  the  lover  of  justice  who  dares  to  fight  for  his 
rights  or  even  for  the  public  welfare!  One  of  the 
special  laws  for  the  Jews  is  that  any  one  may  trample 
him  and  injure  him  unpunished.  Of  all  the  unfort- 
unate subjects  of  the  Czar,  he  is  the  most  unfort- 
tunate.  His  intelligence,  his  sense  of  justice  are 
offences  against  the  sacred  order  of  things,  which 
demands  stupidity  and  obedience.  Thus  exists  the 
entirely  incomprehensible  condition  that  a  great 
realm  steers  towards  inevitable  economic  ruin  for 
lack  of  economic  intelligence,  while  it  possesses  five 
million  bom  financiers,  who  in  the  lifetime  of  a  man 
could  change  Russia  into  an  economic  world-power. 

i66 


XVII 

THE    JEWISH    QUESTION 

A  VISIT  to  Russia  offers  opportunity  for  an  ex- 
tremely interesting  study.  One  may  become 
acquainted  with  a  rapid  succession  of  towns  where 
the  population  is  almost  entirely  Jewish,  or  half 
Jewish,  or  to  a  large  extent  Jewish,  and  also  with 
others  in  which  residence  is  practically  prohibited 
to  Jews,  which,  therefore,  to  speak  in  anti-Semitic 
jargon,  are  almost  "clean  of  Jews."  In  western 
Europe  there  is  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  It 
would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  such  ethnologically 
unique  conditions  offered  to  the  observant  spectator 
no  disclosures  which  he  seeks  elsewhere  in  vain.  In 
fact,  I  made  in  the  cities  free  of  Jews  an  observa- 
tion which  seems  to  me  well  worth  imparting.  The 
Jewish  problem  is  nothing  but  a  problem  of  relative 
overpopulation.  The  Jews  are  unendurable  only 
where  they  are  forced  to  compete  with  each  other. 
I  made  this  observation  in  the  following  way: 
The  Jewish  proletarians  of  Poland  impressed  me  as 
extremely  repulsive.  Their  laziness,  their  filth, 
their  craftiness,  their  perpetual  readiness  to  cheat 
cannot  help  but  fill  the  western  European  with  very 

167 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

painful  feelings  and  unedifying  thoughts,  in  spite 
of  all  the  teachings  of  history  and  all  desire  to  be 
just.  The  evil  wish  arises  that  in  some  painless 
way  the  world  might  be  rid  of  these  disagreeable 
objects,  or  the  equally  inhuman  thought  that  it 
would  really  be  no  great  pity  if  this  part  of  the 
Polish  population  did  not  exist  at  all.  One  is 
ashamed  of  such  thoughts;  nevertheless,  that  does 
not  rid  one's  mind  of  them.  Either  we  must  re- 
nounce our  ideas  of  cleanliness  and  honesty  or  find 
a  great  part  of  the  Eastern  Hebrews  altogether  un- 
pleasant. Since  the  former  is  impossible,  the  latter 
will  always  be  the  case.  Comparison  with  the  still 
dirtier,  still  more  immoral,  still  more  neglected 
Polish  proletariat  does  not  drive  away  these  thoughts. 
The  Jew  has,  besides  his  filth  and  his  craftiness  in 
business,  something  else  which  calls  to  mind  a  no- 
bility of  civilization,  so  that  he  cannot  be  confused 
with  any  chance  "lazzarone"  or  vagabond.  He  is 
not  himself,  but  the  caricature  of  a  man  of  culture, 
and  as  such  he  produces  an  irritating  effect. 

In  the  cities  free  of  Jews  all  this  suddenly  disap- 
pears. The  Jews  whom  one  has  opportunity  to 
meet  there,  well  educated  merchants  of  the  first 
guild,  incorporated  artisans,  and  descendants  of  the 
Jewish  soldiers  of  Nicholas  I.,  are  of  quite  another 
caliber  from  their  Polish  brothers.  They  are  in  no 
way  to  be  distinguished  from  the  Russians.  One  is 
continually  prone  to  take  the  bearded  Russian 
driver  or  merchant  for  a  Jew  and  the  intelligently 

i68 


THE    JEWISH    QUESTION 

keen  Jew  for  a  European.  Then  one  learns  that  these 
Jewish  lawyers,  physicians,  merchants,  and  artisans 
are  treated  by  the  Russians  themselves  as  their 
equals  in  every  respect;  indeed,  that  the  Jews  enjoy 
a  certain  priority  as  being  relatively  more  honest  in 
their  deaHngs.  On  the  contrary,  the  Russians, 
when  large  numbers  of  them  follow  a  single  calling, 
as,  say,  in  the  great  mercantile  houses  or  the  ranks 
of  trade,  show  all  the  qualities  which,  to  our  West- 
em  minds,  are  stamped  as  specifically  Jewish.  They 
are  outrageously  obtrusive,  and  unreliable  to  the 
point  of  open  deception.  The  German  Hanse  towns 
strictly  forbade  their  merchants  to  give  Russian  Jews 
goods  on  credit,  to  lend  them  money,  or  to  borrow 
from  them,  under  penalty  of  immediate  punishment.^ 
In  making  the  smallest  purchase  one  finds  that 
there  is  no  question  of  a  mercantile  reality;  that 
there  is  no  fixed  price,  no  keeping  one's  word,  noth- 
ing that  to  us  in  the  West  has  long  seemed  a  matter 
of  course.  Just  as  in  the  Orient  the  Spanish  Jews 
seem  much  more  reliable  and  sterling  than  the  ras- 
cally Greeks  and  Armenians,  the  Jews,  when  thinly 
scattered,  gain  by  comparison  with  the  native  Rus- 
sians. Now  the  Russian  Jew  is  no  Spaniard,  with  a 
proud  Western  past.    He  is  altogether  identical  with 

'  Book  of  Documents  of  Esthonia,  Livonia,  and  Courland, 
Reval,  1852-64,  Nos.  $76-588,  and  Documentary  Business 
of  the  Origin  of  the  German  Hanse,  Hamburg,  1830,  ii., 
No.  ix.,  p.  27;  both  cited  in  Lanin  Russian  Characteris- 
tics, German  edition,  i.,   142. 

169 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

the  Polish  Jew.  His  higher  development  cannot 
be  accounted  for  by  any  ethnological  difference.  It 
is  simply  that  under  quite  different  economic  con- 
ditions of  existence  he  has  become  a  quite  different 
person.  Dr.  Polyakoff,  of  Moscow,  is,  in  fact,  an- 
other man  from,  say,  his  grandfather,  Pollak,  of 
Poland. 

With  these  facts  we  now  approach  the  real  prob- 
lem. The  overcrowding  of  a  calling  engenders  a 
competition  in  squalor  among  Christians  as  well  as 
Jews,  Aryans  as  well  as  Semites.  The  Jews,  how- 
ever, live  in  overcrowded  callings  all  over  the 
world,  obeying  historic  laws  of  adaptation  even 
where  other  callings,  not  overcrowded,  are  not 
closed  to  them.  Hence  we  have  the  disagreeable 
phenomenon  of  the  handing  over  of  certain  voca- 
tions to  the  Jews,  which  means  nothing  else  than 
the  injury  of  these  callings  by  the  trickery  of  the 
competition  of  squalor.  Where  no  fetters  are 
placed  on  the  economic  life,  the  healthy  organism, 
in  time,  overcomes  these  local  inflammations,  as  we 
may  designate,  by  an  expression  taken  from  pathol- 
ogy, the  influx  of  an  abnormal  number  of  cells  of  a 
certain  sort  to  a  place  not  intended  for  them.  The 
crowding  of  the  callings  until  self-support  is  im- 
possible, the  sinking  of  endurance  in  the  over- 
crowded vocation,  lead  to  a  flowing  off  of  the  super- 
fluous elements,  and  finally  the  whole  organism  has 
overcome  the  crisis  of  assimilation  by  forcing  each 
particle  where  it  is  economically  most  valuable.     In 

170 


THE    JEWISH    QUESTION 

Germany  the  adjustment  cannot  be  far  away.  The 
fact  of  the  unheard-of  economic  growth  during  the 
past  fifteen  years,  and  the  unusual  increase  of  pros- 
perity in  all  branches,  show  at  least  that  Germany 
in  its  bare  fifty  years  of  Jewish  emancipation  has 
been  in  no  way  injured  economically. 

In  Russia,  also,  the  most  expedient  thing  would 
evidently  be  simply  to  declare  the  removal  of  all  re- 
strictive law^s,  and  to  open  to  the  Jews  the  interior 
of  the  country,  as  well  as  all  occupations  which 
they  might  wish  to  enter.  The  blessing  to  Russia 
would  be  immense,  for  the  Jews,  as  thinking  men 
and  members  of  a  race  of  ancient  civilization,  would 
bring  to  the  Russian  nation  just  what  it  lacks,  an 
intelligent  middle  class  capable  of  culture.  The 
percentage  of  Jews  would  not  be  at  all  too  high  for 
Russia  to  carry  without  danger  to  the  national 
character  of  society.  To  about  one  hundred  and 
thirty  million  Russians  there  are  about  five  million 
Jews — that  is,  barely  four  per  cent.  The  "Jew-free  " 
cities  of  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg  show  approxi- 
mately this  proportion,  without  the  Jews  being  per- 
ceptible there.  (It  must  be  admitted  that  one  of 
the  comforts  of  these  cities  is  that  they  are  not,  like 
Warsaw,  for  instance,  over^vhelmed  with  greasy, 
caftaned  Jews.)  If  it  could  be  brought  about, 
therefore,  that  the  Jews  could  be  scattered  through- 
out the  whole  kingdom  in  the  ratio  of  four  per 
cent.,  it  would  be  an  incalculable  gain  for  all  parties, 
and   mankind  would  be  rid   of  a  problem  which 

171 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

threatens  the  condition  of  our  ethics  and  humanity 
the  more  the  longer  it  exists. 

Nevertheless,  this  is  not  to  be  thought  of  as  an 
immediate  possibility.  The  Russian  government  is 
not  in  the  least  gifted  with  magnanimity  and  far- 
sighted  patience,  though  the  contrary  is  true  of  the 
Russian  people,  who  are  entirely  free  from  anti- 
Semitic  prejudice.  For  this  reason  any  enlarge- 
ment of  Jewish  rights  of  residence  and  vocation  is 
prevented  by  the  pointing  out  of  the  infection  which 
would  then  threaten  all  cities  and  all  lucrative  oc- 
cupations. The  Jewish  question  will  long  remain 
unsolved,  for  whom  could  the  Russian  officials 
bleed  if  not  the  tormented,  worried,  defenceless 
Jews  ? 


XVIII 

PLEH VE 

IN  the  winter  of  1881  there  took  place  in  Cracow 
one  of  those  great  socialistic  trials  with  which  in 
those  days  it  was  hoped  in  Austria  to  smother  the 
socialistic  movements  which  were  imported  by  un- 
scrupulous agitators.  The  trial  is  known  in  the 
annals  of  social  -  democracy  as  the  proceedings 
against  Wamynski  and  his  accomplices.  Thirty- 
five  men  were  indicted,  among  them  twenty  Rus- 
sians from  Volhynia,  mostly  students  of  the  Poly- 
technic Institute  in  St.  Petersburg,  who  had  been 
arrested  in  the  work  of  agitation  in  Galicia.  The 
prisoners  noticed  during  the  proceedings  that  they 
were  conducted  one  at  a  time,  under  one  pretext 
or  another,  out  through  a  special  door  of  the  court- 
room, and  they  could  discover  no  explanation  of  this 
queer  course  of  action.  Finally,  one  of  them,  in  pass- 
mg  through  the  door,  found  the  reason.  It  was  a 
double  door  provided  with  a  deep  niche.  In  this 
niche  was  a  Russian  functionary  acting  as  a  volun- 
tary menial  to  the  Austrian  police,  and  at  the  same 
time  as  a  spy  in  the  Russian  service,  who  took  this 
opportunity  of  taking  cognizance  of  his  own  people 

173 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

among  those  who  were  led  by.  Of  course  the  mat- 
ter was  not  closed  without  the  gravest  insults  to 
those  caught,  who  could  only  be  protected  against 
further  abuse  by  the  court  constabulary.  And  this 
police  devotee,  who  showed  such  zeal  in  putting 
down  international  revolution,  was  no  one  else  than 
the  present  all-powerful  figure  in  Russia,  his  excel- 
lency the  minister  of  the  interior,  M.  von  Plehve, 
at  that  time  states-attorney  in  Warsaw.  With  this 
bit  of  sleuthing,  which  the  Poles  very  well  remember 
to  this  day,  this  fortune-favored  statesman  made 
his  debut  in  the  world  outside  of  Russia.  He  has 
remained  true  to  his  character.  He  is  to-day,  at 
the  head  of  the  greatest  state  in  the  world,  nothing 
else  but  the  greatest  police  spy  in  the  w^orld.  His 
politics  are  stamped  with  all  the  characteristics  of  a 
police  origin,  police  in  the  Machiavellian  sense — i.  e., 
crime  in  the  serA-ice  of  order.  In  all  Russia  I  spoke 
to  no  one  who  would  have  chosen  for  the  descrip- 
tion of  Plehve's  character  any  other  expressions 
than  those  which  serve  for  the  delineation  of  the 
lowest  level  of  moral  existence.  I  shall  here  try  to 
make  a  sketch  of  Plehve  in  accordance  with  the 
statements  about  him  which  were  made  to  me  with 
perfectly  astonishing  unanimity. 

Justice  must  be  done  even  the  basest.  It  should 
be  mentioned  at  the  outset  that  in  a  land  of  univer- 
sal venality  the  reputation  of  Plehve  had  this  con- 
siderable advantage,  he  was  said  to  be  absolutely  un- 
bribable.   That  is  a  great  deal,  a  very  great  deal,  when 

174 


PLEHVE 

one  considers  that  in  Russia  certain  legislative  acts 
are  quite  openly  traceable  to  the  payment  of  this  or 
that  high  functionary.  Suspicion,  which  as  a  rule 
does  not  even  spare  princes,  never  once  tainted  him. 
But  little  account  do  the  Russians  take  of  this 
characteristic.  Probably  they  would  prefer  it  if 
his  other  evil  traits  were  a  bit  softened  by  the  vice 
of  venality.  For  Plehve  passes  for  something  far 
worse  than  a  spendthrift  or  a  wasteling.  He  is  a 
rascal  without  scruples,  a  political  Sadist,  a  blood- 
hound, an  accomplished  deceiver;  at  the  same  time, 
a  cynic  entirely  without  heart,  a  "va  banque,"  * 
a  swindler  to  whom  a  political  career  or  the  playing 
with  human  lives  means  nothing  more  than  a  pleas- 
ant nerve  stimulant — in  short,  a  tiger  clothed  in  a 
human  form.  At  the  same  time,  he  has  the  most 
charming  manners,  is  delightful  and  entertaining, 
and  possesses  the  most  true-hearted  face  possible. 
His  unbelievable  falseness  is  the  next  thing  about 
which  all  complain  who  have  had  doings  with  him. 
"Every  word  that  he  speaks  is  a  lie,"  is  the  asser- 
tion which  one  oftenest  hears  about  him.  The 
criminal  element  in  his  tactics  consists  not  only  in 
the  fact  that  he  persuades  the  Czar  that  revolution 
is  at  hand,  and  keeps  him  in  continual,  nerve-killing 
anxiety  by  means  of  threatening  letters,  proclama- 
tions, and  so  forth,  which  he  causes  to  be  smuggled 
into  the  Emperor's  pockets,  but  still  more  in  the 

*  One  who  risks  everything  on  one  card. 
175 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

fact  that  he  actually  provokes  disorders,  in  order  to 
be  able  to  use  them  as  arguments  and  to  strengthen 
his  position,  and  in  the  further  fact  that  he  is  contin- 
ually discovering  conspiracies  and  handling  the  sup- 
posed members  in  the  most  fearful  way  in  order  to 
prove  his  indispensability.  The  whole  store  of 
police  tricks  which  have  been  played  on  despots  in 
order  to  turn  autocrats  into  willing  tools  of  their 
Praetorians  has  been  pillaged  by  Plehve  in  order 
to  bring  his  system  to  a  state  of  perfection.  In  par- 
ticular the  Jews  and  the  Poles  must  suffer  in  order 
to  contribute  to  the  danger  of  the  situation — i.  e., 
the  indispensability  of  Plehve.  Not  a  soul  in  Rus- 
sia doubts  that  the  Kishinef  massacres  were  the  di- 
rect result  of  his  commands;  the  cynicism  with 
which  he  rewarded  Krushevan,  the  leading  agita- 
tor from  Bessarabia,  with  which  he  took  under  his 
protection  the  agitator  Pronin,  who  had  been  in- 
sulted by  a  congress  of  teachers,  is  a  shameless  ac- 
knowledgment of  his  deed,  which,  to  say  more,  he 
only  repudiates  before  foreign  countries,  not,  how- 
ever, before  his  confidants.  He  seizes  upon  every 
little  thing  in  order  to  make  some  big  affair  out  of 
it.  In  Warsaw  the  widows  of  the  members  of  a 
committee  which  had  collected  money  for  a  Polish 
hospital  corps  were  stoned  by  students.  Imme- 
diately was  sent  the  telegraphic  order  to  investi- 
gate the  thing  most  thoroughly,  and  if  those  who 
were  the  sufferers  had  not  refused  all  assistance  to 
the  police  another  couple  of  dozen  would-be  rioters 

176 


PLEHVE 

would  have  been  sent  to  Siberia,  in  order  that  the 
existence  of  a  Polish  revolution  might  be  proved. 
A  Russian  editor,  whose  paper  had  been  suppressed 
because  of  the  publication  of  a  revolutionary  poem, 
sought  audience  of  the  head  of  the  censorship  at 
the  ministry  of  the  interior,  in  order  to  obtain  per- 
mission for  the  reappearance  of  the  paper.  The 
chief  of  the  department  explained  to  the  editor,  ac- 
cording to  .a  Russian  nobleman,  that  if  he  should 
simply  declare  to  the  minister  that  the  revolution- 
ary poem  had  been  smuggled  into  the  paper  by  Jews, 
he  would  immediately  obtain  permission  to  publish 
his  paper  again!  From  a  source  whence  I  never 
should  have  expected  such  a  statement,  from  a 
highly  conservative  aristocrat,  an  "excellency"  in 
the  service  of  the  state,  I  received  in  all  seriousness 
the  information  that  only  Plehve,  in  league  with 
Alexeyev,  had  conjured  up  the  war  by  holding  off 
the  Japanese,  simply  because  in  this  way  he  would 
become  so  much  the  more  indispensable.  Nay, 
more,  it  was  even  indicated  to  me  that  the  nihilists, 
who  killed  Alexander  II.  at  the  very  moment  when 
the  proclamation  of  a  constitution  lay  upon  the 
table  awaiting  his  signature,  could  not  have  found 
their  way  to  the  imperial  carriage  without  help 
from  the  police.  And  the  ally  of  Loris  -  Melikov, 
the  man  who  had  drawn  up  the  plan,  and  who  best 
of  all  knew  how  near  its  signature,  which  must  be 
avoided,  the  proclamation  was,  was  none  other 
than  Plehve!     His  instinct  drove  him  to  the  ranks 

la  177 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

of  the  reactionaries,  for  there  is  Httle  use  for  people 
of  his  caHber  in  a  constitutional  state.  His  anti- 
Semitic  tendencies,  which  he  naturally  disavows  to 
every  Jewish  visitor,  are  only  assumed  because  peo- 
ple high  in  position  and  influence,  like  the  empress 
dowager,  Prince  Sergius,  and  others  of  the  genera- 
tion of  Alexander  UL,  are  fanatically  anti-Semitic. 
So  even  this  is  not  genuine  in  him.  Nothing  is 
but  his  theatrical  ambition  to  assert  himself  as  long 
as  possible,  and  to  have  the  nerve-tickling  of  a 
tight-rope  walker  who  balances  on  his  wire  rope 
over  fixed  bayonets. 

That  is  the  picture  of  the  minister  of  the  interior 
as  public  opinion  in  Russia  paints  it.  I  must  con- 
fess that  the  picture  is  as  little  to  my  taste  as  is  the 
man.  While  the  great  Russian  novelists  are,  above 
all,  masters  in  the  use  of  shades,  political  public 
opinion  likes  to  work  with  the  strongest  colors,  with 
bloody  superlatives.  Suspicious  as  the  circumstances 
may  be  that  not  a  soul  in  the  broad  Russian  empire 
is  inclined  to  say  a  friendly  word  for  the  ruling  power 
of  the  time,  yet  the  unprejudiced  observer  must 
reckon  with  the  circumstance  that  even  without  a 
free  press  in  Russia  there  is  a  certain  uniformity  of 
political  opinion  which  can  only  be  explained  on  the 
hypothesis  of  a  certain  uniform  centre  of  opinion, 
many  of  whose  statements  are  taken  on  faith  by  every 
one.  I  imagine  that  this  centre  is  situated  pretty 
high,  perhaps  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
the  Czar,  and  that  the  picture  of  each  minister  is 

178 


P  L  E  H  V  E 

sketched  by  his  rivals,  but,  hke  every  article  for  the 
masses,  only  in  poster  style,  in  striking  words,  very 
white  or,  oftener,  very  black.  He,  not  a  Russian 
and  not  a  rival,  who  has  not  the  same  burning  in- 
terest in  getting  rid  of  Plehve,  will  therefore  do  well 
to  transpose  this  rascal  from  his  supernatural  at- 
mosphere into  an  every-day  one,  and  a  somewhat 
different  picture  w411  result. 

I  think  of  it  in  this  hght:  Plehve  comes  from  a 
states-attorney  and  a  police  career.  Some  traces  of 
this  origin  cleave  to  every  one  of  like  training. 
Judges  who  have  been  states-attorney  are  the  terror 
of  lawyers,  because  of  their  inquisitorial  manner, 
and  because  of  their  inclination  to  see  in  every  de- 
fendant a  person  already  condemned.  Further- 
more, dealings  with  police  agents  are  least  of  all 
fitted  to  cultivate  scrupulousness.  Let  only  Putt- 
kammer's  words  be  recalled,  "Gentlemen  do  not 
volunteer  for  such  services."  ^  The  continual  fear 
of  assassination,  which  is  well  founded  in  the  case 
of  the  head  of  the  Russian  police — Plehve  allows  his 
expenditures  for  the  guarding  of  his  person  to 
amount  as  high  as  eight  hundred  thousand  rubles 
a  year — does  not  conduce  to  making  a  man  human ; 
and,  finally,  all  bearers  of  honors  in  Russia  are  cynics, 
because  their  existence  is  founded  only  on  the  mood 
of  a  single  person,  and  their  whole  career  is  a  game  of 
hazard.    In  the  case  of  Plehve  and  others  there  is  this 

*  "Gentlemen  geben  sich  fur  diese  Dienste  nicht  her." 

179 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

additional  evil  influence,  that  not  being  Russians — 
Plehve  is  a  Pole,  of  Lettish-Jewish  origin — they  must 
distinguish  themselves  by  special  Russian  Chauvinism 
in  order  to  avoid  suspicion.  Plehve  is  not  a  great 
man,  his  whole  ministerial  career  being  devoid  of  a 
single  noteworthy  act.  He  is  a  successful  official, 
who  intends  by  every  means  to  make  himself  felt 
in  high  circles,  and  who  considers  himself  justified 
in  countering  the  intriguing  of  his  rivals  by  any  or 
all  the  means  customary  in  the  land,  and  "Voila 
tout."  But,  in  general,  love  of  truth  is  not  a  char- 
acteristic of  so-called  public  life  in  Russia.  Hence 
it  would  be  unjust  to  count  as  a  special  crime 
Plehve's  special  falseness. 

It  must  be  conceded  that  even  this  picture  is 
far  from  being  a  pleasing  one.  If  to  these  features 
the  proved  fact  is  added  that  Plehve  denounced  to 
the  governor-general.  Count  Muraviev,  his  own 
Polish  foster-parents,  who  picked  him  up,  so  to 
speak,  in  the  very  street  and  raised  him  (Plehve 
was  originally  a  Catholic),  so  that  they  were  sent  to 
Siberia  in  return  for  their  kindness;  that  Plehve, 
therefore,  began  his  career  with  a  deed  of  infamous 
ingratitude  and  treachery,*  then  the  black  will  be 
black  enough  to  allow  of  passing  over  the  remaining 
smirches  in  the  picture  of  a  monster. 

But  the  most  pitiful  of  all  that  I  heard  about 
Plehve's  regime  was  the  answer  I  received  when  I 

^  See  Struve's  Osivohozhdenie. 
i8o 


PLEHVE 

asked  a  man  in  a  very  responsible  position  whether 
better  things  might  be  expected  when  Plehve  should 
be  overtaken  by  his  inevitable  fate. 

"No,"  the  answer  was;  "deserved  as  such  a  fate 
will  be,  for  us  it  will  bring  no  help.  Another  man, 
that  is  all.  Plehve  is  only  the  ideal  required  by 
the  regime.  A  police  state  needs  police  natures, 
and  always  finds  them.  He  has  all  the  vices  save 
that  of  corruptibility,  but  is  by  no  means  unique 
in  the  hierarchy  of  Russian  officials.  And  it  is  far 
from  probable  that  anything  better  would  succeed 
him.  If  all  Russia  hopes  [sic]  that  he  will  soon  be 
annihilated,  it  is  not  because  an  amelioration  of 
things  is  hoped  for,  but  because  some  satisfaction  is 
felt  when  one  of  these  beasts  meets  his  due.  But  a 
philanthropist  and  a  friend  of  justice  will  be  just  as 
unlikely  to  be  minister  of  the  interior  under  an 
absolutism  as  he  is  to  desire  to  be  an  executioner. 
Only  another  system  can  bring  us  other  men.  A 
reign  of  terror  tolerates  only  hangmen." 


XIX 

THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF   JUSTICE 

IT  was  perhaps  not  altogether  accidental  that 
one  evening  at  a  social  gathering  I  was  intro- 
duced to  one  of  the  foremost  lawyers  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, whose  biting  sarcasm  in  discussing  the  events 
of  the  day  immediately  struck  me,  and  aroused  in 
me  the  desire  to  have  a  more  serious  talk  with  him. 
This  was  immediately  granted  with  that  amia- 
bility which  is  never  wanting  in  the  intercourse  of 
Russians  with  foreigners.  Subsequently  I  learned 
that  I  might  congratulate  myself,  for  that  particu- 
lar lawyer  was  said  to  be  not  only  one  of  the  keenest 
minds  in  Russia,  but  one  of  the  men  best  acquainted 
with  his  country.  Moreover,  he  was  so  over- 
whelmed with  work  that  even  greater  men  were 
often  obliged  to  wait  by  the  hour  in  his  ante- 
chamber before  they  were  able  to  gain  admission. 
Indeed,  the  time  fixed  for  our  interview,  near  mid- 
night, showed  this  to  be  the  case.  The  conversa- 
tion lasted  until  long  after  that  hour,  but  I  had  no 
cause  to  regret  the  loss  of  several  hours  of  sleep. 

My  host  rose  immediately  and  gave  the  inevitable 
order  to  bring  tea  and  cigarettes.     In  a  few  minutes 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE 

we  were  discussing  the  question  which  interested 
me  most,  as  being  the  key  to  an  understanding  of 
all  the  other  economic  conditions  of  the  country — 
namely,  the  question  of  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice in  Russia. 

"One  circumstance  makes  it  uncommonly  dif- 
ficult here  to  obtain  justice,"  began  the  lawyer.  "  I 
refer  to  the  strained  relations  between  the  bench 
and  the  bar.  Here  the  judge  is  more  hostile  to 
counsel  than  is  the  case  in  other  countries,  and  often 
enough  he  is  inclined  to  make  them  feel  his  power. 
This  is  less  serious  in  civil  suits — in  which  the  judge, 
after  all,  merely  has  to  do  with  the  parties  in  the 
case — than  in  criminal  cases,  in  which  the  judge 
represents  the  authority  of  the  realm  towards  the 
accused  and  his  advocate.  In  such  cases  the  de- 
fendant may  easily  pay  the  penalty  of  the  animos- 
ity which  the  judge  feels  towards  his  counsel." 

"What  is  the  cause  of  this?" 

"  It  has  only  too  human  a  cause.  It  is  not  un- 
heard of  for  a  busy  lawyer  of  reputation  and  good 
connections  to  earn  thirty  or  forty  thousand  rubles 
a  year,  or  more.  Compare  with  that  the  wretched 
salaries  of  the  judges ;  consider  how  costly  living  is 
here;  imagine  the  continuous  over-burden  of  work 
of  the  bench  and  the  lack  of  public  appreciation, 
and  you  will  comprehend  why  our  judges  do  not 
look  at  the  world  in  general  through  rose-colored 
glasses,  and  particularly  at  the  prosperous,  well- 
situated  lawyer." 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"You  say  lack  of  public  appreciation.  Is  the 
position  of  judge  not  an  honorable  one?" 

"On  the  whole,  no  official  in  Russia  is  much  re- 
spected. At  the  most  he  is  feared.  The  most 
lucrative  positions,  however,  are  those  of  the  ad- 
ministrative department  and  the  police.  In  these 
branches  are  to  be  found  the  most  rapid  and  brill- 
iant careers,  and  therefore  the  sons  of  great  families, 
in  so  far  as  they  become  officials,  prefer  them.  The 
judge  must  work  hard,  and  has  small  thanks." 

"Does  not  this  evil  have  a  moral  effect  on  the 
impartial  administration  of  justice  also?" 

"You  mean,  in  plain  speech,  are  not  our  judges 
to  be  bought?  Well,  I  must  say,  to  the  honor  of 
these  functionaries,  that  relatively  speaking  they 
constitute  the  most  honorable  class  of  all  our  offi- 
cials, and  that  the  majority  of  them  are  superior 
to  bribery.  To  be  frank,  there  is  professional  am- 
bition enough;  and  the  effort  to  please  superiors  is 
almost  a  matter  of  course,  since  the  independence 
of  the  judges,  which  had  brought  us  extraordinary 
improvement  in  the  candidates  for  the  office,  has 
been  set  aside  again." 

"Your  judges  are  not,  then,  independent  and 
irremovable?" 

"What  are  you  thinking  of — under  our  present 
regime?  We  do  not  wish  independent  judges.  A 
minister  of  justice  like  Muraviev,  who  certainly 
constitutes  the  supreme  type  of  all  that  is  meant 
by  the  expression,   'A  man  of   no    honor,'  is  the 

184 


A  DM  I  x\i  STRATI  ON    OF    JUSTICE 

strongest  hinderance  to  justice.  Therefore,  a  mon- 
etary acknowledgment  to  the  whole  senate  is  ex- 
pected for  each  satisfactory  judgment.  We  have 
such  a  case  just  now.  Here  you  have  a  list  of  names 
of  seven  judges  who  were  promoted  out  of  turn  by 
Minister  ]\Iuraviev  on  consideration  of  the  kind 
support  which  they  gave  to  the  Ryaboushinskys, 
the  Moscow  millionaires,  against  the  Bank  of  Khar- 
kov, which  was  their  debtor," 

"  Will  you  permit  me  to  make  a  note  of  this  list?" 

"  Certainly.     I  am  not  the  only  man  who  has  it." 

I  noted  down  the  names  Davidov,  Sokalski, 
Vishnevski,  Laiming,  Delyanov,  Dublyavski,  Pod- 
gurski.  They  were  entered  on  a  type-written  sheet 
with  the  distinction  and  encouragement  they  had 
respectively  received  after  a  suit  which  brought  a 
considerable  profit  to  a  Moscow  millionaire  firm. 

"But  you  said,"  I  objected,  "that  the  judges  are 
not  open  to  bribery  Yet  they  performed  an  il- 
legitimate service  to  millionaires." 

"Certainly  I  said  the  judges  are  not  open  to 
bribery;  but  I  did  not  say  that  of  the  minister  of 
justice.  On  the  contrary,  I  called  him  a  man  with- 
out honor  in  a  place  of  the  highest  power." 

"You  mean,  then,  that  he  was  paid  for  the  judg- 
ment that  was  given  in  the  interest  of  the  million- 
aires?" 

"Your  astonishment  only  betrays  the  foreigner. 
Only  the  little  debts  of  the  honorable  minister  were 
paid  off — good  Heavens!" 

185 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"It  is  incomprehensible." 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  judge  has  everything  to 
fear  when  he  is  not  compliant.  Do  you  suppose 
that  a  comedy  of  justice  like  that  of  Kishinef  can 
be  played  with  independent  judges  ?  And  yet  there 
are  always  heroes  to  be  found  who  fear  no  meas- 
ures, but  administer  justice  according  to  their  con- 
victions. That  is  the  astonishing  thing,  not  the 
opposite,  under  a  Muraviev-Plehve  regime." 

"Was  it  better,  then,  formerly?" 

"  It  was,  and  would  have  become  better  still  if 
our  authorities  had  remained  true  to  their  mission 
of  uplifting  the  altogether  immoral  people  instead 
of  corrupting  them  still  further.  In  the  system  of 
Pobydonostzev,  in  which  politics  take  the  place  of 
morality,  no  improvement  is  to  be  expected.  You 
might  as  well  expect  fair  play  from  the  Spaniards 
of  the  Inquisition  as  here,  where  premiums  are  set 
upon  all  sorts  of  unwise  actions,  if  only  they  seem 
to  lead  to  the  levelling  of  the  masses,  who  are  to  be 
kept  unthinking." 

"You  say  the  people  are  immoral?" 

"  They  lack — above  all  things,  the  sense  of  justice. 
No  one  here  has  rights.  No  one  thinks  he  has. 
The  natural  state  of  things  is  that  everything  is 
forbidden.  A  privilege  is  a  favor  to  which  no  one 
has  any  claim.  To  win  a  lawsuit  is  a  matter  of 
luck,  not  the  result  of  a  definite  state  of  justice. 
One  has  no  right  to  gain  his  cause  simply  because 
he  is  in  the  right.     As  a  consequence  of  this,  it  is 

1 86 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE 

neither  discreditable  nor  disgraceful  to  be  in  the 
wrong.  You  win  or  lose  according  as  the  die  falls. 
I  will  illustrate  from  your  own  experience.  You 
were  to-day  in  the  Hermitage.  At  a  certain  door, 
before  which  stood  a  servant,  you  asked  whether 
people  were  permitted  to  enter.  The  answer  was 
not  'yes'  or  'no,'  but  'Admittance  is  commanded,' 
or  'Admittance  is  not  commanded.'  This  spirit  ex- 
tends to  the  smallest  things.  That  you  keep  your 
child  with  you  and  bring  it  up  is  not  a  matter  of 
course,  but  you  are  permitted  to  have  children  and 
to  bring  them  up — the  latter,  be  it  noted,  only  in 
so  far  as  the  police  allow.  If  you  should  to-day  suf- 
fer heavy  loss  by  robbery  or  burglary,  what  should 
you  do?" 

"  I  should  report  the  matter,  of  course." 
"You  say  of  course,  because  it  is  a  matter  of 
course  to  you  that  a  crime  reported  should  become 
characterized  as  a  crime,  because  in  a  certain  way 
you  feel  the  duty  of  personally  upholding  law  and 
order.  When  the  same  thing  happens  to  me,  a 
Russian,  I  must  first  conquer  my  natural  tendency, 
and  then  after  a  long  struggle  I,  too,  will  report  the 
matter,  because — well,  because  I,  as  a  lawyer  and  a 
representative  of  justice,  am  no  longer  a  naive  Rus- 
sian, btit  am  infused  with  the  usual  ideas  of  j^is- 
tice.  The  normal  Russian  exceedingly  seldom  re- 
ports a  case  to  the  police,  because  he  absolutely 
lacks  the  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  justice. 
When  he  says  of  anybody  that  he  is  a  clever  rascal, 

187 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

his  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  word  clever,  which  ex- 
presses unlimited  appreciation." 

"That  must  make  general  intercourse  exceeding- 
ly difficult." 

"  Certainly.  To  live  in  Russia  means  to  use  a 
thousand  arts  in  keeping  one's  head  above  water. 
One  never  has  a  sure  ground  of  law  under  his  feet. 
Property  both  ptiblic  and  private  is  perhaps  not 
less  safe  in  Turkey  than  here.  Have  you  heard  of 
the  great  steel  affair?" 

"No." 

"  It  is  no  wonder,  for  we  do  not  make  much  ado 
about  a  little  mischance  of  this  sort.  In  that  affair 
a  capital  of  eight  million  rubles  disappeared  with- 
out a  trace.  It  was  invested  in  the  coal  and  steel 
works.  A  grand-duke,  moreover,  was  interested  in 
the  enterprise,  Grand-Duke  Peter  Nikolaievitch.  A 
license  to  mine  iron  ore  on  a  certain  territory  for 
ninety -nine  years  had  been  obtained.  A  company 
was  formed  with  a  capital  of  ten  million  rubles. 
The  grand-duke  took  shares  to  the  amoimt  of  a 
million  rubles.  The  enormously  rich  Chludoff  put 
eight  million  rubles  into  the  concern.  French  and 
Belgian  experts  were  brought  on  special  steamers ; 
champagne  flowed  in  streams.  Of  course  the  re- 
ports of  the  experts  were  glowing  ones.  But  after 
three  years  there  was  of  the  eight  million  rubles, 
barely  paid  in,  not  a  kopek  more  to  be  found.  It 
had  all  been  stolen.  Likewise  there  was  no  ore 
or  coal  on  the  territory,  nor  hgd  there  ever  been. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE 

No  one  went  to  law  about  the  affair,  so  little  sen- 
sation did  it  cause." 

"When  did  this  affair  take  place?" 

"Between  1898  and  1901." 

"And  can  your  press  do  nothing  to  better  this 
general  corruption?" 

"We  have  a  saying,  'It  is  hard  to  dig  with  a 
broken  shovel.'  Talented  people  like  ourselves 
soon  learned  from  abroad  the  little  art  of  corrupting 
the  press.  With  a  fettered  press  like  ours,  this  is 
less  difficult  here  than  in  other  countries,  where  a 
paper  respecting  public  opinion  might  under  some 
circumstances  be  unreservedly  outspoken.  But  why 
should  a  press  with  Suvorin  and  the  Novoye  Vrem- 
ya  at  the  head,  surpassing  absolutely  all  records 
of  baseness — why  should  such  a  press  run  the  risk 
of  bankruptcy?  Moreover,  you  must  always  keep 
one  thing  in  mind :  a  press  may  exert  tremendous 
power  by  publishing  a  man's  worthlessness,  until 
he  is  made  powerless  in  society;  but  since  here  no- 
torious sharpers  are  readily  accepted  in  the  highest 
ranks  of  society,  and  even  grand-dukes  do  not  es- 
cape the  suspicion  of  corruption,  it  does  no  one 
any  harm  to  be  reported  as  having  dexterously 
spirited  away  a  few  hundred  thousands." 

"You  say  even  grand-dukes?" 

"  — Are  not  safe  from  suspicion.  I  can  personal- 
ly testify  that  not  one  of  them  takes  a  ruble  him- 
self. But  the  persons  who  live  by  obtaining  con- 
cessions for  joint-stock  companies,  etc.,  know  how 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

to  represent  that  they  need  considerable  sums  for 
the  purpose  of  influencing  the  highest  persons, 
the  minister  and  grand-dukes.  Hence  arises  this 
idea." 

"And  intelligent  business  men  believe  that?" 
"Believe  it?  No  one  would  understand  the  op- 
posite. Imagine  a  scene  in  my  office.  A  business 
man  comes  to  me  with  a  case.  He  inquires  my  fee. 
I  say  five  hundred  rubles.  He  asks  what  will  be 
the  expenses.  I  say  a  few^  rubles  for  stamp  duties, 
etc.  Then  he  becomes  more  definite.  He  means 
the  charges.  'There  are  none,'  I  answer.  The 
man  of  business  rises,  disappointed.  'Ah!  so  you 
have  no  influential  connections?'  I  will  not  say 
that  this  happens  very  often  with  me;  for  the  men 
who  come  to  me  once  know  what  I  can  do,  and 
what  not,  and  what  my  practice  is.  The  case  is, 
however,  characteristic.  Outside  the  legal  pro- 
fession, which  still  lives  on  the  tradition  of  the 
time  of  its  independence,  every  one  is  open  to  bri- 
bery; and  every  one  reckons  with  the  fact." 
"And  no  one  is  angry  at  open  injustice?" 
"  What  is  injustice  ?  Despotism  of  the  great.  We 
have  been  used  to  that  for  thousands  of  years  and 
accept  it  like  the  caprices  of  fortune.  The  peasant 
makes  no  distinction  between  a  hail-storm  which 
ruins  his  crop  and  an  authority  who  oppresses  or  in- 
jures him.  There  is  no  way  of  resisting  either;  for 
when  one  curses  God,  He  sends  greater  misfortune; 
and  when  one  disputes  with  the  authorities,  one  is 

190 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE 

absolutely  lost.  'Duck,  little  brother;  everything 
passes' ;  that  is  the  final  conclusion  of  our  wisdom. 
We  are  educated  to  it  by  inhuman  despots  and  by 
an  official  service  of  thieves  and  debauchees.  We 
lack,  too,  the  sharply  defined  idea  of  ownership,  in 
which  the  sense  of  justice,  considered  psychologi- 
cally, has  its  root.  You  know  that  here  the  peas- 
ants own  their  own  land  only  to  an  extremely  small 
extent.  The  individual  is  merged  and  lost  in  the 
'mir'  (village  community),  where  the  trustee,  the 
'zemski  nachnalnik,'^  the  village  elder,  and  liquor 
rule.  This  ohshtchina,  communism,  is  the  strong- 
est fortress  of  reaction.  No  ray  of  enlightenment 
penetrates  it.  At  the  utmost,  misery  and  ever- 
returning  hunger  produce  finally  a  condition  of  de- 
spair in  which  the  peasant  is  capable  of  anything 
except  an  action  which  might  advance  him  in  civ- 
iHzation.  In  the  census  of  1898  there  were  found 
villages  where  no  one  had  any  idea  what  paper  is, 
and  peasants  who  did  not  know  the  name  of  the 
Emperor.  The  'mir,'  moreover,  is  in  its  nature 
opposed  to  private  ownership,  and  every  discussion 
between  the  member  of  the  village  communism  and 
the  property-holder  is  artfully  prevented  by  the 
scattering  about  of  compulsory  peasants.  For 
property-owners  are  at  present  for  the  most  part 
Liberal.  The  regime,  however,  stands  or  falls  with 
the  isolation  of  the  peasantry  from  Liberal  influ- 

'  Chief  of  the  coxrnty  council. — Translator. 
191 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

ences.  For  the  peasant  is  not  unintelligent  by- 
nature,  and,  if  he  is  not  prevented,  he  learns  very 
quickly." 

"That  is  also,  then,  one  of  the  causes  of  the  ill- 
treatment  of  the  Jews?" 

"It  is  the  cause.  Do  not  suppose  that  the  Holy 
Synod  alone  has  power  to  influence  legislation  in  favor 
of  orthodoxy.  Sectarians  and  Jews  are  demonstrably 
the  only  people  who  have  a  moral  code  of  their  own, 
and,  therefore,  know  how  to  distinguish  justice  from 
injustice.  They  are  also  the  only  ones  who  criticise 
the  actions  of  the  authorities.  They  were,  there- 
fore, a  dangerous  leaven  in  the  community,  other- 
wise slipping  off  to  sleep  in  a  body.  Therefore,  it 
was  a  matter  of  self-preservation  for  the  autocracy 
to  isolate  the  Jews  and  make  them  harmless.  Do 
not  suppose  that  any  anti-Semitic  feeling  is  prev- 
alent among  us.  The  autocrats  are  trying  artfully 
to  implant  it  by  means  of  such  people  as  Plehve's 
intimate,  Krushevan,  of  the  '  Bessarabetz.'  But 
the  effect  does  not  go  deep,  thanks  to  the  same 
circumstance  which  makes  the  progress  of  civiliza- 
tion difficult;  the  peasant  cannot  read,  and  does  not 
in  the  least  believe  the  priest.  The  massacres  of 
Kishinef  were  directly  commanded.  Every  man 
was  killed  by  order  of  the  Czar.  No  anti-Semitism 
exists  among  the  people.  Whatever  anti-Semitism 
there  is  is  sown  by  the  government  for  the  purpose 
of  isolating  the  peasants  in  order  that  '  the  urchins 
may  grow  up  stupid.'  " 

192 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE 

"  Ought  not  the  Jews  to  take  that  into  account 
and  not  meddle  with  pohtics?" 

"  In  the  first  place,  I  see  no  reason  why  the  Jews 
should  become  accomplices  of  this  formidable  and 
soul-killing  regime  of  ours.  They  will  be  oppressed 
all  the  same,  whether  meek  or  unruly.  They  will 
remain  under  special  legislation,  simply  because  no 
one  can  stop  the  flow  of  the  official's  unfailing 
spring  of  revenue — the  ravaging  of  the  Jews.  More- 
over, the  Jews  have  never  received  so  much  sym- 
pathy from  us  as  since  they  began  to  place  them- 
selves on  the  defensive  and  to  make  common  cause 
with  our  Radicals.  Now  for  the  first  time  they  be- 
long to  us,  and  yet  really  only  those  who  actually 
fight  with  us  and  for  us.  This  matter,  too,  is  mis- 
represented. Statistics,  which  show  a  percentage  of 
eighty-five  Jews  in  every  hundred  revolutionaries, 
are  falsified,  because  gentiles  are  allowed  to  slip 
through  in  order  to  injure  the  Radical — i.  e.,  the  con- 
stitutional— movement  by  representing  it  as  un-Rus- 
sian  and  Jewish,  and  to  mobilize  foreign  anti-Semi- 
tism against  us.  But  the  Jews  ought  to  be  grateful 
to  Plehve,  for,  thanks  to  his  machinations,  all  the 
intelligent  opinion  among  us  has  become  favorable 
to  the  Jews,  and  recognizes  the  solidarity  of  its  in- 
terest and  those  of  the  Jews.  The  struggle  con- 
duces much,  however,  to  the  assimilation  of  the 
Jews.  They  are  our  brothers;  they  suffer  with  us 
and  for  us,  even  if  also  for  themselves;  for  our 
whole  Jewish  legislation  for  twenty  years  past  has 
13  193 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

consisted  only  in  the  curtailing  of  the  rights  ac- 
corded them  under  Alexander  IL  Why  should 
they  not  become  revolutionaries?  But  they  are 
enemies  of  the  administration  merely,  not  of  the 
state;  therefore,  we  find  ourselves  on  the  same 
footing." 

I  closed  my  interview,  as  in  all  cases,  with  the 
question,  "What  hope  is  there  for  the  future?" 
and  received  the  same  answer  as  in  all  other 
cases : 

"Everything  depends  upon  how  this  war  ends. 
If  God  helps  us  and  we  lose  the  war,  improvement 
is  possible ;  for  then  ruin,  above  all,  the  chronic  bank- 
ruptcy of  the  nation,  can  no  longer  be  concealed. 
If  a  man  should  enter  my  room  now — at  this  hour 
only  respectable  persons  enter  my  room  —  and  I 
should  say  to  him,  '  What  do  you  hope  and  wish  in 
regard  to  the  war?'  his  answer  would  be,  'Defeat; 
the  only  means  to  save  us.'  If  we  calculate  how 
many  men  are  shot  and  exiled  and  how  many 
families  are  ruined  every  year  by  absolutism,  the 
total  equals  the  losses  in  war — a  more  terrible  one, 
however,  for  only  a  catastrophe  can  make  an  end 
of  this  war,  which  has  long  been  destroying  us. 
Therefore,  I  say  again,  if  God  helps  us  we  shall 
lose  the  war  in  the  East.  Do  not  allow  yourself  to 
be  deceived  by  any  official  preparations.  Every 
good  Russian  prays,  '  God  help  us  and  permit  us 
to  be  beaten!'" 

When  I  left  the  brilliant  lawyer  it  was,  as  I  have 
194 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE 

said,  long  after  midnight.  It  was  "butter-week,"  * 
and  my  sleigh  had  trouble  in  avoiding  the  drunken 
men  who  staggered  across  our  way,  and  the  shriek- 
ing hussies,  who,  with  their  companions  with  or 
without  uniforms,  carried  on  pastimes  suitable  to  the 
season. 

*"  Butter- week  "  (mastyanitza)  is  in  Russia  the  week 
preceding  Lent.  Meat  is  forbidden,  but  milk,  butter,  and 
eggs  are  allowed  as  food.  Like  the  carnival,  it  is  celebrated 
with  popular  amusements. — Translator. 


XX 

THE   IMPERIAL   FAMILY   AS   THE    PUBLIC    SEES    IT 

"IN  no  constitutional  state  is  the  practical  in- 
1  fluence  of  the  head  of  the  government  so  slight 
as  in  the  autocracy  of  Russia,"  was  one  of  the  say- 
ings I  heard  most  often  in  St.  Petersburg,  when  I 
endeavored  to  inform  myself  in  regard  to  the  per- 
sonality and  the  acts  of  the  reigning  Czar.  There 
are,  to  be  sure,  individual  opinions  to  the  contrary. 
According  to  these  it  depends  entirely  upon  the 
personality  of  the  autocrat  whether  he  exerts  a 
strong  influence  or  not.  The  Conservatives  incline 
to  the  latter  view.  Prince  Esper  Ukhtomski  held 
it;  so  did  a  former  high  functionary  in  the  depart- 
ment of  finance,  as  well  as  a  conservative  aristocrat 
in  another  department,  all  of  whom  I  questioned  on 
this  point.  One  of  them  said  in  so  many  words  that 
the  Czar  needs  only  to  lift  a  finger  to  banish  all  the 
evil  spirits  which  now  rule  the  land.  The  aristocrat 
believed  the  country  might  be  delivered  by  an  em- 
peror better  trained  for  his  functions.  Prince 
Ukhtomski  ascribes  to  the  leading  statesmen,  at 
least,  influence  enough  to  do  good  and  to  prevent 
evil,  and,  therefore,  to  do  the  contrary,  as  has  been 

ig6 


THE    IMPERIAL    FAMILY 

done  for  twenty  years,  especially  under  the  regime 
of  Plehve.  The  Liberals  and  Radicals,  however,  who 
form  the  greater  part  of  the  so-called  "  Intelligence," 
leave  the  personality  of  the  ruler  entirely  out  of  the 
question,  perhaps  from  a  premature  comparison  with 
their  constitutional  model.  They  declare  a  change 
of  conditions  without  a  change  of  the  system  to  be 
impossible.  To  be  sure,  they  say,  if  a  suspicious, 
inhumane,  reactionary  Czar  like  Alexander  III.  is 
on  the  throne,  the  domination  of  the  camorra  of 
officials  is  made  more  oppressive.  Yet  the  present 
mild  and  benevolent  autocrat  cannot  prevent  the 
existence  of  conditions  which  are  more  insupport- 
able than  ever.  Only  the  press  and  a  parliament 
could  amend  matters,  not  the  good  intentions  of  a 
single  man. 

I  do  not  undertake  to  judge  which  of  the  two 
parties  is  right.  In  any  case  it  seems  worth  while 
to  sketch  the  Czar's  personality,  which  is  certainly 
an  element  in  the  fate  of  Russia  and  of  Europe. 
The  portrait  is  drawn  from  the  reports  of  people  who 
have  had  sufficient  opportunity  to  form  a  conception 
of  him  from  their  personal  observation.  It  is,  of 
course,  impossible  for  me  to  name  my  authorities, 
or  to  indicate  them  in  any  but  the  most  distant 
way.  It  must  suffice  to  say  that  among  them  were 
people  who  have  known  not  only  the  present  rulers, 
but  also  their  parents  and  grandparents,  from  inti- 
mate association.  I  myself  have  seen  the  Czar  only 
once.     The  current  portraits  of  him  are  very  good. 

197 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

The  only  striking  and  noteworthy  thing  in  the 
handsome  and  sympathetic  face  is  the  expression 
of  melancholy  resignation.  One  authority  alone — 
whose  statements  on  other  matters  I  have  found 
to  be  invariably  careful  and  accurate  —  expressed 
doubts  of  the  good-nature  of  the  Czar,  and  accused 
him  of  designing  and  of  rather  petty  malevolence. 
All  others,  including  Prince  Ukhtomski,  who  had 
been  the  companion  of  the  Czar  for  years,  agree  in 
emphasizing  the  extraordinary,  almost  childlike 
lovableness  and  kindhness  of  the  Emperor,  who 
is  said  to  be  actually  fascinating  in  personal  inter- 
course. This  agrees  with  the  fact,  which  I  know 
from  one  unquestionably  trustworthy  source,  that 
the  Czar  is  intentionally  deaf  to  everything  in  the 
reports  of  his  counsellors  likely  to  disparage  or 
cast  suspicion  upon  a  colleague,  while  he  immedi- 
ately listens  and  asks  for  details  when  he  hears  from 
one  of  his  ministers  a  word  favorable  to  the  action 
of  another.  It  is  an  absolute  necessity  for  him  to 
do  good,  and  it  is  a  constant  source  of  fresh  pain  to 
him  that  he  cannot  prevent  the  great  amount  of 
existing  evil.  Again,  while  the  single  authority 
says  he  has  found  in  the  Czar  indications  of  a  subtle 
if  not  powerful  intellect,  the  others,  while  they 
praise  his  goodness  of  heart,  do  not  conceal  the 
weakness  of  his  judgment,  which,  according  to  them, 
certainly  has  something  pathological  about  it. 
Prince  Ukhtomski  alone  speaks  of  the  Emperor 
with   invariable    respect    and    sympathy,    without 

198 


THE    IMPERIAL    FAMILY 

limiting  each  hearty  statement  with  an  immediate 
"but."  All  others,  without  exceptions,  explain  the 
Prastorian  rule  of  Plehve  by  the  mental  and  moral 
helplessness  of  the  Emperor,  who  is  entirely  unin- 
formed, and  is  treated  by  those  about  him  in  the 
most  abominable  way — under  cover  of  all  outward 
signs  of  devotion.  The  things  that  people  dare  do 
to  him,  presuming  upon  this  helplessness,  border 
upon  the  inconceivable.  That  threatening  letters 
can  constantly  be  smuggled  into  the  Czar's  pockets, 
and  even  into  his  bed,  without  his  finally  hitting 
upon  the  idea  of  seizing  his  body-servant  by  the 
cravat,  is  a  very  strong  proof  of  his  mental  inactivity ; 
the  more  so,  incidentally,  because  he  hears  himself 
ridiculed  outside  his  own  door.  This  police  canard 
is  told,  moreover,  of  Alexander  III.,  who  was  a 
dreaded  despot.  The  role,  too,  which  Plehve  played, 
although  the  Czar  did  not  esteem  him  in  the  least, 
shows  how  successfully  the  latter  has  been  intim- 
idated and  persuaded  into  the  entirely  mistaken 
belief  that  Plehve  alone  could  avert  the  threatening 
revolution. 

At  the  same  time  the  Czar  is  said  to  be  anything 
but  confiding  in  regard  to  his  nearest  counsellors. 
When  a  report  is  made  to  him  he  sits  in  the  shadow ; 
the  man  who  makes  the  report  sits  in  the  light. 
He  tries  to  decipher  the  man's  expression  and  to 
control  him,  a  thing  which  is,  of  course,  impossible, 
since  a  good  Russian  physiognomy  is  more  impene- 
trable   than    a    Russian    iron  -  clad.     His    lack    of 

199 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

knowledge  of  affairs  is  as  marked  as  his  lack  of  judg- 
ment. I  will  give  an  instance  of  this.  In  the  prov- 
inces a  quarrel  had  broken  out  between  the  self- 
governing  corporation,  the  "zemstvos,"  and  the 
governors.  This  difference  between  self-govern- 
ment and  autocracy  was  presented  to  the  Czar  as 
turning  merely  on  the  question  of  centralization  or 
decentralization,  and  as  if  it  were  a  matter  for  dis- 
agreement between  the  governors  and  the  minister 
of  the  interior,  the  governors  striving  against  the 
same  full  authority  that  is  held  by  the  ministers  of 
the  Czar.  In  this  way  the  Czar  was  successfully 
deceived  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  quarrel;  he 
did  not  learn  at  all  that  the  provinces  were  making 
a  demonstration  against  autocracy.  The  result  of 
the  deception  was,  of  course,  that  the  Czar  declared 
himself  for  the  ministry  of  the  interior — that  is,  for 
Plehve,  the  increase  of  whose  power  he  by  no 
means  wished. 

The  role  which  certain  adventurers  like  the 
hypnotist  Philippe  and  the  promoter  Bezobrazov 
are  able  to  play  at  court  is  also  certainly  a  notable 
symptom.  The  former  was  to  suggest  to  the  Czar- 
itza  the  birth  of  a  boy,  while  otherwise  he  carried 
through  whatever  he  wished,  since  he  used  the  spirit 
of  Alexander  III.  to  secure  a  hearing  for  his  sug- 
gestions. His  departure  from  court  followed  upon 
his  impudently  having  the  spirits  recommend  a 
specific  firm  of  contractors  for  the  building  of  a 
bridge.     Bezobrazov,  one  of  the  agents  who   have 

200 


THE    IMPERIAL    FAMILY 

the  Asiatic  war  on  their  consciences,  is  now  hving 
somewhere  abroad,  and  does  not  dare  return,  at 
least  while  the  war  lasts. 

Still  more  significant,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  au- 
thenticated statement  that  the  Emperor  has  many 
times  received  publications  upon  the  condition  of 
his  empire,  has  carefully  read  them,  and  has  praised 
them,  without  taking  the  slightest  step  towards 
carrying  out  the  reforms  recommended  to  him;  in- 
deed, after  the  lapse  of  a  few  days,  he  has  ceased 
even  to  refer  in  conversation  to  the  suggestions. 
This  would  seem  to  indicate  an  almost  abnormal 
weakness  of  will,  which  makes  it  easy  for  a  gifted, 
inconsiderate,  and  self-confident  reactionary  like 
the  Grand-Duke  Alexander  Mikhailovitch  to  cany- 
out  his  own  ideas  in  everything. 

According  to  these  statements,  which  come  direct- 
ly in  every  case  from  original  sources,  the  Czar  is 
to  be  regarded  as  a  man  upon  the  whole  good- 
natured  and  lovable,  who  is,  perhaps,  too  modest 
and  too  conscious  of  his  insufficient  knowledge  to 
have  the  full  courage  of  responsibility,  without 
which  an  autocrat  is  the  least  able  of  leaders  to 
endure  his  great  burden.  Inconsiderate  and  crafty 
people,  who  profit  by  his  weakness,  govern  him,  and 
he  may  even  be  glad  of  this.  In  his  perplexity  and 
helplessness,  which  are  due  to  his  human  sympathy 
and  modesty,  he  is  obliged  to  submit  to  others  with 
whom  he  can  at  least  leave  the  responsibility  for 
affairs,  which    in    general,  as   in   the   specific   case 

20I 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

of  the  war  in  eastern  Asia,  go  contrary  to  his 
wishes. 

His  timid  temperament  is  shown  especially  in  his 
relations  with  his  mother,  the  dowager  empress, 
who  even  now,  supported  by  the  reactionary  mem- 
bers of  the  family,  plays  the  part  of  the  actual 
empress,  and  cruelly  mortifies  the  young  consort 
of  the  Czar.  It  is  an  open  secret  that  the  relations 
between  the  two  women  are  anything  but  un- 
troubled, a  condition  which  reacts  upon  the  re- 
lations of  the  imperial  pair  themselves.  The  dow- 
ager empress  has  renounced  none  of  her  preroga- 
tives in  favor  of  her  daughter-in-law,  who  con- 
sequently feels  herself  in  a  very  false  position,  and 
complains  bitterly  of  it.  People  assured  me,  more- 
over, that  according  to  Russian  ideas  none  of  the 
rights  claimed  by  the  young  Czaritza  belong  to  her 
so  long  as  the  empress-mother  lives.  Hence  it  vexes 
the  Czaritza  that  she  cannot  curb  her  so  -  called 
ambition.  The  empress  -  mother,  however,  is  not 
at  all  popular,  at  least  in  Liberal  circles,  where  she 
is  held  responsible  for  the  fact  that  her  son  cannot 
free  himself  from  the  evil  traditions  of  his  father, 
who  was  a  strictly  upright,  but  relentless  and  brutal 
despot.  The  young  Czaritza  was  blamed  among 
the  common  people  because  she  had  borne  no  prince 
in  spite  of  the  prayers  of  the  archbishop  John ;  she 
is  blamed  at  court  also  because  she  does  not  con- 
ceal her  English  sympathies. 

One  old  friend  of  the  imperial  family,  however, 


THE    IMPERIAL    FAMILY 

assured  me  that  there  is  no  more  charming,  up- 
right, and  affectionate  woman  hving  than  this  young 
Hessian  princess.  She  is,  he  said,  completely  in- 
timidated by  the  enemies  who  surround  her  and 
shows  them  a  lowering  face.  Where  she  feels  her- 
self secure,  however,  her  merry  South-German  nat- 
ure comes  to  the  top,  and  she  can  even  now  romp 
like  a  little  child.  It  speaks  for  the  innocence  of 
her  nature  that  she  is  prouder  of  nothing  than  of 
her  potato-salad.  For  the  rest,  the  same  author- 
ity asserts,  she  has  a  mind  of  her  own,  and  may  be 
not  always  the  most  comfortable  companion  for  a 
husband. 

Among  the  other  members  of  the  family  the  Grand- 
Duke  Constantine  is  called  the  poet.  His  interest 
in  art  and  science  is  said  to  be  sincere.  He  has 
also  great  personal  attractiveness.  In  sharp  con- 
trast with  him  stands  the  Grand  -  Duke  Sergius, 
governor  -  general  of  Moscow,  and  brother-in-law 
and  uncle  of  the  Czar.  The  things  commonly  re- 
ported of  his  private  life  are  unsuitable  for  repeti- 
tion here,  since  in  general  I  avoid  giving  space  to 
scandal  in  a  chronicle  of  important  matters.  The 
things  worthy  of  publicity  and  important  for  the 
weal  or  woe  of  population  are  the  opinions  and 
abilities  of  princes,  not  their  liaisons.  It  is  diffi- 
cult, however,  not  to  speak  of  the  passions  of  the 
Grand-Duke  Sergius,  since  they  form  such  a  violent 
contrast  to  his  former  bigotry.  He  is  unanimously 
pronounced  an  unprincipled  man  with  a  black  rec- 

203 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

ord — a  man  whose  pleasure  consists  in  the  sufferings 
of  others.  His  influence  at  court  is  second  only  to 
that  of  the  Grand-Duke  Alexander  Mikhailovitch. 

I  found  in  all  Russia  no  trace  of  a  dynastic  senti- 
ment. The  loyalty  to  the  House  of  the  Hohen- 
zollerns  in  Prussia,  or  to  the  House  of  the  Haps- 
burgs  in  Austria  has  no  coimterpart  in  Russia.  If 
the  personal  influence  of  the  occupants  of  the  throne 
may  be  estimated,  the  Czar  means  to  the  masses 
of  the  people  the  essence  of  temporal  and  spiritual 
power,  to  the  intelligent  class  an  element  of  fate. 
The  grand-dukes  are  people  who  can  aid  and  harm, 
and  who  are  therefore  persons  of  importance  for 
all  Russians.  The  bond  of  loyalty  between  dy- 
nasty and  people,  however,  which  in  the  West  has 
assured  the  safe  existence  of  the  royal  houses 
through  all  revolutionary  convulsions,  does  not 
exist  in  Russia.  On  the  contrary,  people  speak 
freely  in  private  of  the  "Saltikov  dynasty,"  in  un- 
mistakable allusion  to  the  well-known  first  lover  of 
the  Empress  Catherine  II.  Thus  the  many  mur- 
ders in  the  imperial  house  are  received  by  the  peo- 
ple without  great  excitement.  Only  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Baltic  provinces  are  faithful  to  the 
dynasty;  the  spirit  of  feudal  loyalty  runs  in  their 
German  blood.  Even  there,  however,  it  is  being 
slowly  but  resolutely  destroyed  by  the  ruling  an- 
archists. 

In  contemporary  opinion  Alexander  II.  and  Alex- 
ander III.  still  live,  while  Nicholas  I.  is  practically 

204 


THE    IMPERIAL    FAMILY 

forgotten.  Alexander  II.  is  surrounded  with  the 
martyr's  halo,  and  is  thought  of  only  as  the  eman- 
cipating Czar  who  was  got  out  of  the  way  before 
he  could  sign  the  liberty-giving  bill  for  a  constitu- 
tion. Public  opinion  will  not  be  dissuaded  from 
finding  the  fact  remarkable  that  the  nihilists  suc- 
ceeded for  the  first  time  in  reaching  the  Czar  at  the 
moment  when  all  the  privileges  of  the  reigning  oli- 
garchy were  threatened.  Therefore  people  will  not 
remember  any  traits  in  him  except  good  ones,  a 
thing  not  altogether  consistent  with  the  picture  of 
him  left  by  Kropotkin  in  his  memoirs.  Of  Alex- 
ander III.,  on  the  contrary,  only  evil  is  heard,  which 
I,  however,  must  doubt  for  many  reasons.  For  I 
have  been  told  little  incidents  of  his  most  private 
life,  incidents  which  I  cannot  repeat,  out  of  con- 
sideration for  the  incognito  of  my  informant,  but 
which  show  a  certain  knightliness  and  uprightness, 
and  a  truly  princely  kindness  to  the  weak.  An- 
other man  is  answerable  for  the  pitilessness  of  his 
fatal  policy  —  Pobydonostzev,  the  Torquemada  of 
Russia.  It  is,  however,  inevitable  that  history 
should  preserve  only  that  picture  which  expresses 
the  sum  total  of  the  effect  of  a  personality.  There- 
fore the  memory  of  Alexander  III.  is  certainly  over- 
loaded with  sins  of  omission. 


XXI 

PUBLIC    OPINION    AND    THE    PRESS 

THE  fine  imperial  library  in  St.  Petersburg, 
which  I  was  permitted  through  the  kindness 
of  our  legation  to  use,  possesses  a  specialty  in  a 
particular  class  of  works,  the  collection  of  so-called 
"  Russica  " — i.  e.,  everything  that  has  been  written 
in  foreign  languages  about  Russia.  Polite  attend- 
ants, speaking  various  languages,  assist  the  visitor. 
One  learns  from  them  that  it  is  the  business  of 
special  agents  abroad  to  report  on  publications 
which  relate  to  Russia,  and  to  send  them  in.  So 
it  happens  that  probably  nowhere  in  the  world  is 
there  such  an  accumulation  of  revolutionary  lit- 
erature as  in  this  imperial  collection.  For  patriotic 
writings  are  for  the  most  part  in  Russian,  so  that 
they  may  be  appreciated  and  quickly  rewarded. 
The  semi-official  literature  in  foreign  languages  is 
not  to  be  compared  in  quantity  or  importance  with 
that  which  true  patriots  are  forced  to  their  sorrow 
to  write  in  foreign  languages.  I  looked  through 
piles  of  this  forbidden  literature.  The  impression  I 
received  was  desperately  disheartening.  There  is 
nothing  which  has  not  been  said  about  Russia.  The 

206 


PUBLIC    OPINION 

severest  and  best-attested  attacks  on  the  regime, 
on  persons,  on  conditions,  stand  there  quietly,  vol- 
ume by  volume,  in  the  imperial  library,  and  have 
had  exactly  as  much  effect  as  whip-strokes  on 
water.  The  Russian  political  writer  who  wishes  to 
war  upon  the  present  system  with  the  weapon  of 
reckless  criticism  must  lose  all  hope  in  face  of  this 
library.  What  more  can  be  said  than  has  already 
been  said  by  Milyukov,  by  Lanin,  by  Leroy- Beau- 
lieu  ?  The  voice  of  the  prophets  does  not  penetrate 
to  the  ears  of  the  rulers,  or,  if  it  does,  it  is  drowned 
by  the  whispers  of  parasites  who  know  how  to  pro- 
tect their  own  interests,  or  it  finds  no  echo  in  the 
too  weak  or  too  hardened  hearts  of  the  rulers. 

I  had  the  same  sensation  when,  in  the  course  of 
my  conversations  with  leading  persons  in  the  service 
of  the  state,  and  with  members  of  the  "  Intelligence," 
I  was  more  and  more  struck  with  the  fact  that  in 
Russia  there  is  an  unusually  strong  public  opinion, 
which  in  its  criticisms  far  transcends  anything  that 
can  be  said  in  foreign  papers  about  Russian  con- 
ditions, and  that  this  criticism  makes  no  impres- 
sion whatever  upon  the  authorities.  I  was,  of 
course,  interested  next  in  the  problem  as  to  how 
it  could  be  possible  without  newspapers — the  Rus- 
sian press  is  under  the  most  barbarous  censorship — 
to  disseminate  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Odessa  w4th 
a  truly  uncanny  rapidity,  an  almost  monotonously 
uniform  idea  of  all  the  events  and  personalities  of 
the  day.     I  confess  I  have  not  yet  solved  the  riddle. 

207 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

It  is  only  a  hypothesis  of  mine  to  suppose  that 
there  are  three  or  four  centres  for  the  formation  of 
opinion  in  Russia,  one  of  which  is  undoubtedly  to 
be  found  in  the  ministry  itself,  and  another,  perhaps, 
in  the  Noblemen's  Club,  or  in  other  clubs  of  the 
intelligent  classes  in  Moscow,  and  that  through  the 
abundance  of  time  which  every  Russian  allows 
himself  for  recreation,  every  newly  coined  saying 
or  opinion  is  spread  throughout  the  whole  realm 
by  letters  or  by  word  of  mouth.  I  have  heard  from 
the  lips  of  statesmen  high  in  office  literally  the 
same  words  I  have  heard  at  the  table  of  Leo  Tol- 
stoi, in  Yasnaya  Polyana,  or  in  the  study  of  the 
lawyer  who  gave  me  an  interview.  After  I  had 
come  to  terms  with  this  fact  of  the  absolute  uni- 
formity of  public  opinion,  a  fact  not  altogether 
gratifying  to  the  collector  of  information,  it  was  no 
longer  possible  to  ignore  the  question  as  to  how 
it  is  possible  that  such  a  unison  of  wishes  and  opin- 
ions meets  only  deaf  ears  in  the  highest  circles,  al- 
though it  has  already  become  a  historic  legend  that 
Alexander  II.  was  forced  into  the  war  with  Turkey 
against  his  will  by  public  opinion.  If  public  opin- 
ion at  that  time  had  so  much  power  for  evil,  why 
does  it  not  have  power  now,  and  power  for 
good? 

An  annoying  question  sooner  or  later  finds  an 
answer — whether  a  correct  one  or  not  remains  to 
be  seen — no  doubt  because  the  mind  does  not  rest 
until  it  has  found  something  plausible  wherewith 

208 


PUBLIC    OPINION 

to  quiet  itself.  I  finally  explained  the  matter  to 
myself  in  the  following  way.  The  husband  is  the 
last  to  hear  of  the  shame  that  his  consort  brings 
upon  him.  People  point  at  him,  the  servants 
snicker,  even  anonymous  letters  flutter  on  his  table, 
and  still  he  is  unsuspecting,  or,  at  the  most,  is  dis- 
turbed without  definitely  knowing  why.  There  is, 
except  in  the  case  of  treachery,  which  is  extremely 
rare,  or  the  taking  in  the  act,  which  is  still  rarer, 
only  one  possibility  of  enlightenment  for  him — 
namely,  that  a  very  intimate  friend  or  a  near  rela- 
tive shall  play  the  part  of  the  ruthless  physician, 
and  supply  evidences  which  are  irrefutable.  An 
autocrat  is  hardly  less  interested  in  the  credit  of  his 
system  than  a  husband  in  the  reputation  of  his 
wife.  This  system  is  apparently  identical  with  his 
personality.  He  bears  all  the  responsibility.  He 
has  reason  for  the  most  far-reaching  suspicion  of 
all  who  approach  him,  because  he  seldom  sees  any 
one  who  does  not  wish  something  of  him.  Who, 
then,  has  the  courage,  the  credit,  and  the  means  to 
approach  the  Czar,  and  to  tell  him  the  truth  con- 
cerning what  goes  on  about  him  and  is  done  in  his 
name?  A  near  friend?  That  would  have  to  be  a 
foreign  monarch.  It  is  well  known  how  carefully 
kings  avoid  seeming  to  advise,  especially  when  the 
excessively  proud  Russian  dynasty  is  in  question. 
What  other  monarch,  moreover,  must  not  consider 
his  own  interests,  which  cannot  be  identical  with 
those  of  Russia?  the  German  Emperor  perhaps 
14  209 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

least  of  all.  Unfortunately,  however,  the  relations 
between  William  IL  and  Nicholas  IL  are  none  of 
the  most  intimate.  Indeed,  Nicholas  openly  shuns 
too  frequent  intercourse  with  Emperor  William,  and 
prefers  when  he  is  in  Germany  to  play  tennis  with 
his  brother-in-law  of  Hesse.  There  remains,  then, 
only  near  relatives.  They,  indeed,  are  much  in  evi- 
dence, and  they  have  the  Czar  entirely  under  their 
influence.  They  are  public  opinion  for  him ;  and  as 
long  as  they  have  no  interest  in  placing  themselves 
on  the  side  of  the  opposition,  so  long,  according  to 
physico-psychological  laws,  will  the  voice  of  the 
real  public  opinion  decrease  in  proportion  to  the 
square  of  the  approach  to  the  Czar;  and  all  anony- 
mous or  unauthorized  enlightenments  and  memo- 
rials by  patriots  who  willingly  make  themselves 
victims  will  make  no  more  than  a  momentary  im- 
pression. The  public  opinion  which  forced  the 
Czar  Alexander  II,  into  the  war  with  Turkey  was 
the  opinion  of  the  belligerent  grand-dukes ;  the  pub- 
lic opinion  which  rules  the  present  Czar  and  thereby 
prevents  the  counsels  of  the  opposition  from  hav- 
ing a  hearing  is  again  that  of  the  grand-dukes,  who 
move  only  in  the  narrowest  court  circles  and  in 
those  of  the  reactionary  bureaucracy.  The  Czar 
knows  this,  but  he  cannot  help  himself.  He  has 
just  now  had  a  new  experience  of  it,  when  those 
about  him  made  him  firmly  believe  that  the  Jap- 
anese affair  was  well  on  the  way  towards  a  peaceful 
settlement,   while  at  the  same  time,  by  dilatory 

2IO 


PUBLIC    OPINION 

tactics  and  constant  preparations,  they  provoked 
the  Japanese  to  declare  war. 

There  is  only  one  possible  position  for  an  intelli- 
gent ruler  who  seeks  to  secure  veracious  informa- 
tion. That  is  to  institute  a  free  press  and  an  in- 
dependent parhament.  To  be  sure,  both  press  and 
parliament  may  be  led  astray,  and  lead  astray.  It 
is  unquestionably  easier  to  find  one's  way  in  a  few 
reports  of  the  highest  counsellors  than  in  the  chaotic 
confusion  of  voices  of  unmuzzled  newspaper  writers 
and  members  of  parliament,  among  whom,  it  can- 
not be  denied,  conscienceless  demagogues  find  place 
only  too  quickly.  But  he  who  bears  such  heavy 
responsibility  should  not  avoid  difficulties;  and 
there  is  absolutely  no  other  means  of  gaining  a 
hearing  for  the  truth  than  by  the  free  utterance 
of  every  criticism.  Finally,  one  learns  to  read  and 
to  hear,  and  comes  to  distinguish  between  real 
arguments  and  those  of  demagogues.  No  one  out- 
side the  country  can  form  a  conception  of  how  the 
Russian  press  and  the  elements  of  parliamentary 
institutions  are  oppressed  by  the  camorra  of  offi- 
cials. The  zemstvo  of  the  province  of  Tver, 
which  had  the  effrontery  to  entertain  wishes  for  a 
constitution,  was  dissolved;  and  this  is  the  least 
that  happens  in  such  cases.  The  persecution  of  the 
persons  who  are  under  suspicion  of  exerting  especial 
influence  upon  their  fellows — this  is  the  evil.  They 
are  surprised  by  night,  and  in  the  most  fortunate 
cases  are  held  in  prison  for  months  during  investi- 

211 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

gations.  In  other  cases,  when  the  search  shows 
that  the  smallest  bit  of  forbidden  literature  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  suspected  man,  his  exile  to  a  dis- 
tant province  or  to  Siberia  is  a  matter  of  course. 
These  things,  however,  are  unfortimately  only  too 
well  known.  What  is  not  so  well  known  is  the  way 
editors  are  treated  who  presume  to  wish  to  edit  a 
sheet  or  who  draw  upon  themselves  as  editors  the 
displeasure  of  the  police.  The  head  censor  in  St. 
Petersburg,  chief  of  the  highest  bureau  of  the  press, 
is  a  certain  Zvyerev,  a  former  Liberal  professor  in  the 
University  of  Moscow,  Renegades  are  always  the 
worst.  Since  Zvyerev  has  been  censor  the  restric- 
tions of  the  Russian  press  have  been  severer  than 
ever.  I  became  acquainted  with  the  former  editor- 
in-chief  of  a  great  paper,  who  sketched  for  me  the 
examination  he  underwent  before  permission  was 
granted  him  to  edit  a  paper  under  censorship. 
There  are,  I  should  explain,  two  sorts  of  papers  in 
Russia.  The  first  are  those  which  appear  osten- 
sibly without  censorship,  at  their  own  risk,  and  at 
the  slightest  slip  are  simply  suppressed.  It  is  easy 
to  guess  how  ready  people  are  to  invest  in  such  en- 
terprises. Those  of  the  second  sort  are  papers  un- 
der censorship,  which  are  submitted  to  the  censor 
before  they  appear,  and  through  his  oversight  re- 
ceive a  certain  protection,  not,  to  be  sure,  of  a  very 
far-reaching  kind.  This,  however,  is  the  only  method 
by  which  any  capital  can  be  secured ;  and  without  cap- 
ital to-day  the  founding  of  a  paper  is  an  impossibility. 


PUBLIC    OPINION 

Ivan  Mikhailitch  Golitzyn,  then,  wishes  to  start 
a  paper,  has  taken  all  preparatory  steps,  has  pro- 
cured capital  and  valuable  testimonials,  and  ap- 
pears now  before  the  mighty  Zvyerev  to  request  the 
final  license. 

Zvyerev  is  a  snob  and  bows  to  a  great  name. 
Therefore  he  cannot  immediately  say  no,  for  the 
candidate  has  taken  care  to  obtain  testimonials 
from  the  most  prominent  people.  Therefore  the 
following  dialogue  ensues: 

"  Ivan  Mikhaihtch,  I  know  you  and  your  family. 
You  are  a  Russian  noble,  and  as  such  are  called 
upon  to  protect  the  interests  of  our  Emperor  and 
of  the  church.  There  is  also  nothing  to  be  said 
against  your  patrons.  But  you  yourself,  ever  since 
your  student  days,  have  been  under  suspicion  of 
harboring  Western  ideas.  Your  associations  also 
are  not  entirely  above  suspicion.  I  am  informed 
that  you  associate  with  Jews." 

"Your  excellency  knows  that  my  paper  is  to 
stand  for  progress,  which  certainly  is  not  forbidden, 
and  if  Jews  are  among  my  acquaintances,  it  would 
be  unchristian  to  insult  them  by  turning  my  back 
on  them." 

"Yes,  that  is  all  very  well.  But  I  should  like  to 
know  whether  you  will  oppose  the  impertinences  of 
the  Jews  with  the  necessary  vigor?" 

"Your  excellency  will  perceive  that  a  paper 
which  stands  for  progress  cannot  attack  the  Jews 
without  good  reason.     But,  on  the  other  hand,  it 

213 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

cannot  be  philo-Semitic,  for  our  mercantile  class 
would  not  advertise,  on  account  of  their  anti- 
Semitic  feeling,  and  the  paper  could  not  continue." 

"  Will  your  paper  support  the  absurd  efforts  which 
are  being  made  towards  the  introduction  of  a  con- 
stitution?" 

"We  will  concern  ourselves  only  with  practical 
questions.  The  introduction  of  a  constitution  does 
not  belong  to  these." 

"  But  if  one  of  your  editors  should  make  an  at- 
tempt to  enter  upon  the  discussion  of  this  question, 
would  you  permit  it?" 

"My  editors  know  the  programme  and  will  not 
attempt  any  disloyalty  to  it.  But  should  the  case 
occur,  it  would  be  my  duty  to  protect  the  integrity 
of  the  programme." 

"  Ivan  Mikhailitch,  you  are  a  clever  man  and 
know  how  to  make  evasive  answers.  I  cannot  re- 
fuse you  a  license.  But  I  warn  you!  And  beware 
of  the  Jews.  That  is  the  first  duty  of  a  Russian 
nobleman  to-day." 

That  is  the  conversation  which  has  certainly  been 
carried  on  more  than  once  in  Zvyerev's  office  before 
the  founding  of  a  paper.  In  striking  agreement 
with  it  is  the  scene  which  Struve  reports  in  his 
Osvobozhdenie,  when,  after  the  suppression  of  a 
paper,  the  editor  presents  himself  because  his  li- 
cense has  been  taken  away  unjustly. 

Again,  take  the  case  of  a  Moscow  paper  which  has 
published  a  poem  delivered  at  the  time  of  a  public 

214 


PUBLIC    OPINION 

festival,  but  in  which  the  author  had  afterwards 
made  some  changes.  The  paper — I  do  not  remem- 
ber its  name — was  suppressed.  The  publisher  or  the 
editor,  who  is  Hkewise  said  to  have  been  a  Russian 
noble,  went  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  objected  that, 
as  his  paper  appeared  under  censorship,  if  any  one 
was  to  blame  it  was  the  censor  who  had  let  this 
poem  pass.  Zvyerev,  however,  showed  plainly  that 
latter-day  tendencies  did  not  please  him,  and  that 
he  only  wanted  an  excuse  for  taking  measures 
against  the  paper.  Of  course  such  measures  mean, 
tmder  some  circumstances,  financial  ruin;  in  any 
case,  severe  injury  to  all  the  contributors.  There- 
fore suppression  of  the  license  is  an  unusually  effec- 
tive means  of  pressure  to  bring  to  bear  against  the 
convictions  of  editors.  In  this  case  pressure  of 
such  a  monstrous  kind  was  attempted  as  it  is  to  be 
hoped  stands  alone  in  the  chapter  of  censor- tyranny. 
The  editor  was  told  in  plain  words,  by  Zvyerev,  that 
he  might  permit  it  to  be  stated  that  the  poem  had 
been  smuggled  into  the  paper  behind  his  back  by 
the  Jews,  and  that  the  minister  of  the  interior 
would  at  once  grant  a  license  for  the  reappearance 
of  the  paper.  The  editor,  of  course,  refused  the 
demand,  and  a  new  page  was  added  to  the  book  of 
Russian  infamy.  Zvyerev  is  still  in  office  as  a 
worthy  assistant  to  his  minister,  Plehve. 

The  oppression  of  independent-minded  organs  is, 
however,  not  the  only  expedient  of  Russian  policy 
in  regard  to  the  press.     Its  antithesis  is  not  absent — 

215 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

official  support  of  the  revolutionary  and  provincial 
press.  Russia  rejoices  in  one  journal  which  has 
not  its  equal  in  untruthfulness  and  diabolical  base- 
ness in  the  whole  world,  the  Novoye  Vremya.  This 
Panslavic  sheet,  which  is  ready  to  eat  all  Germans 
and  Jews  alive,  and  which  finds  no  lie  too  infamous, 
no  invention  too  childish  to  serve  up  to  its  readers, 
if  only  their  prejudices  are  tickled,  is  openly  sup- 
ported by  the  Russian  government.  It  therefore 
contains  an  incomparably  greater  amount  of  news 
than  any  other,  has  consequently  the  most  sub- 
scribers, and  can  pay  its  contributors  and  corre- 
spondents the  best,  so  that  every  one  who  wants  to 
read  a  paper  with  plenty  of  news  has  to  take  this 
noble  organ.  I  found  it  everywhere  in  Russian 
houses,  and  if  I  asked  the  master  of  the  house  his 
opinion  of  it,  the  answer  was  everywhere  the  same : 
"  Infamous,  but  indispensable." 

It  is,  then,  carefully  seen  that  in  Russia,  as  else- 
where, emperors — and  other  people — do  not  hear 
the  truth.  The  autocracy,  or  rather  bureaucracy, 
surrounds  itself  with  bulwarks  which  nothing  can 
penetrate.  It  will  need  an  earthquake  to  make  a 
breach.  This  earthquake  is,  indeed,  according  to 
the  common  opinion  of  all  thinking  Russians,  nearer 
than  is  generally  supposed.  It  is  the  financial 
breaking-up  of  a  system  now  held  together  only  by 
foreign  loans. 


XXII 

SOME    REALITIES    OF   THE    LEGAL    PROFESSION 

AT  a  social  gathering  which  I  must  not  describe 
i  because  I  do  not  wish  to  make  it  recognizable, 
I  had  an  unusual  privilege.  We  were  drinking  tea 
and  talking— politics,  of  course,  for  no  one  any- 
longer  talks  of  anything  else  in  Russia — when  the 
door  opened  and  a  tall  and  very  stately  couple 
entered.  A  general  exclamation  hailed  the  new  ar- 
rivals. They  were  welcomed  with  striking  hearti- 
ness and  invited  to  the  table,  as  people  who  had 
returned  from  a  long  journey.  When  introduced 
to  them  I,  of  course,  did  not  understand  their 
names,  and  contented  myself  with  enjoying  the 
handsome  appearance  and  elegance  of  the  gentle- 
man as  well  as  of  the  lady  until  I  could  ask  my 
neighbor  at  table  why  these  people  were  welcomed 
with  such  surprising  warmth. 

"  He  has  just  come  out  of  prison,"  was  the  hastily 
whispered  reply. 

The  communication  had  such  an  effect  that  I 
was  unable  to  finish  the  meal.  It  is  not  a  usual  thing 
for  a  western  European  to  sit  among  the  guests  of 
a  prominent  family  with  people  who  have  just  been 

217 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

discharged  from  prison.  Moreover,  among  us,  cul- 
prits do  not  look  like  this  uncommonly  handsome 
pair.  Finally,  it  is  not  customary  with  us  to  re- 
ceive with  such  heartiness  people  who  have  just  dis- 
carded prison  shackles.  I  therefore  asked  for  the 
name  and  crime  of  the  new-comer.  I  was  told,  and 
at  once  I  understood  everything. 

This  courtly  gentleman  was  a  Russian  noble  and 
a  prominent  lawyer.  At  my  request  he  related  in 
German  his  prison  experiences.  He  had,  it  seems, 
been  arrested  at  night  and  immediately  incarcerated. 
His  wife  had  taken  the  children  out  of  bed,  because 
even  the  beds  had  to  be  searched  for  forbidden  lit- 
erature, and  the  like.  The  pretext  for  this  night 
visit  of  the  poHce  had  been  that  the  lawyer  had 
been  informed  against  as  having  given  shelter  to  a 
political  fugitive.  For  this  reason  search  was  made 
even  in  the  cradle  of  the  smallest  child,  in  order  to 
make  sure  that  the  criminal  was  not  hidden  there. 

The  true  ground,  however,  was  that  Mr.  von  X , 

as  a  lawyer,  defended  political  criminals  and  must  be 
dealt  with  accordingly.  Eleven  days  were  spent  in 
examining  him.  The  search  of  the  house  revealed 
nothing;  for  only  the  most  reckless  have  a  trace 
of  forbidden  literature  in  their  houses,  although 
Struve's  Osvohozhdenie^  is  read  almost  everywhere. 
No  other  accusation  could  be  brought  against  a 
man  so  highly  honored.     He  was  also  not  alto- 

*  Liberation. 
?i8 


THE    LEGAL    PROFESSION 

gether  without  means  of  defence  in  his  large  clien- 
tage. His  case  had  caused  a  great  sensation.  The 
outbreak  of  the  Russo-Japanese  war  had,  how- 
ever, caused  the  authorities  to  content  themselves 
with  treating  him  to  the  pleasures  of  a  short  resi- 
dence in  a  police  hole,  and  they  refrained  for  the 
time  being  from  exiling  or  banishing  him  from  the 
place  of  his  practice — an  experience  which  might 
easily  enough  happen  after  a  much  longer  investi- 
gation to  lawyers  less  noted  or  of  lower  rank. 

After  this  little  incident,  noteworthy  enough  to  a 
foreigner,  I  became  much  interested  in  the  troubles 
of  lawyers,  and  obtained  the  amplest  information 
on  the  subject.  I  even  incidentally  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  one  of  the  officially  disciplined  law- 
yers of  Kishinef,  but  was  unable  to  converse  with 
him,  as  he  spoke  no  language  other  than  Russian. 
He  was  a  vigorous  man,  rather  young,  with  heavy, 
dark  hair  and  beard,  and  of  a  distinctively  Russian 
type.  As  the  son  of  a  priest,  he  ought  to  have  had, 
according  to  the  ideas  of  people  of  discretion,  some- 
thing better  to  do  than  to  interfere  with  the  pro- 
gramme of  the  government.  But  Dr.  Lokoloff,  the 
lawyer  in  question,  is  a  remarkable  man.  He  be- 
lieves it  to  be  an  advocate's  duty  to  uphold  justice ; 
and  he  absolutely  refused  to  admit  that  justice  in 
Russia  is  a  matter  of  politics.  I  managed  to  learn 
more  about  the  proceedings  against  Dr.  Lokoloff 
from  a  well-informed  colleague  of  his  whose  name 
I,  of  course,  may  not  disclose.     Since  the  simple 

219 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

recital  of  such  a  case  is  more  instructive  than  whole 
volumes  of  generalizations,  I  will  give  it  in  detail 
as  related  to  me.  I  may,  however,  promise  that 
the  case  is  by  no  means  the  worst  I  have  heard  of, 
as  the  government  takes  much  severer  measures  to 
terrorize  lawyers  and  to  prevent  them  from  de- 
fending "politically  inconvenient"  persons.  The 
case  of  Lokoloff,  moreover,  calls  for  more  detailed 
treatment  because  the  massacre  perpetrated  at 
Kishinef ,  in  the  name  of  the  Czar,  has  at  last  drawn 
pubHc  attention  to  the  conditions  in  his  dominions. 
The  participation  of  the  government  organs  in 
the  "pogrom"  of  Kishinef  was  exposed  by  an- 
other lawyer,  Dr.  Paul  N.  von  Pereverseff,  who 
expiated  his  accusation  with  exile  to  Archangel, 
where  he  and  his  wife  now  live  in  a  village,  while 
his  children  are  being  sheltered  by  relatives.  Per- 
everseff had  gone  to  Kishinef  after  the  disturbances, 
and  had  there  made  the  acquaintance  of  Pronin, 
Krushevan,  Stefanoff,  and  Baron  Levendahl,  at 
that  time  in  command  of  the  gendarmes  at  Kish- 
inef. Since  he  came  as  counsel  for  the  accused, 
and  was  a  Russian  nobleman  above  suspicion,  he 
at  once  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  these  honest 
men.  Thus  he  learned  that  Pronin,  the  colleague 
of  Krushevan  and  the  protege  of  Plehve,  in  his 
character  of  member  of  the  committee  for  poor 
culprits,  gave  exact  instructions  to  the  prisoners 
how  they  should  speak  in  the  legal  proceedings. 
Pereverseff  soon  became  convinced  that  the  chief 


THE    LEGAL    PROFESSION 

culprit — namely,  Plehve,  who  had  planned  to  ad- 
minister punishment  to  the  Jews,  and  to  present  a 
new  accusation  against  them  to  the  Czar,  would ' 
not  appear  at  the  bar.  Instead  there  would  appear 
only  the  poor  wretches  who  had  been  directed  to 
plunder  and  kill  the  Jews  by  order  of  the  Czar. 

Dr.  Lokoloff  arrived  at  Kishinef  in  May,  1903, 
as  advocate  for  the  injured  parties,  and  learned 
there  from  Pereverseff  what  the  latter  had  already 
discovered.  He  then  made  a  personal  investiga- 
tion extending  over  several  months,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  discovered  also  that  the  "pogrom" 
of  the  police  and  of  Baron  Levendahl  had  been 
instigated  by  direct  orders  from  higher  authorities. 
He  gave  expression  to  this  conviction  in  the  course 
of  the  proceedings,  and  was,  in  consequence,  im- 
prisoned on  an  order  telegraphed  direct  from  the 
minister  of  the  interior  to  Prince  Urussoff,  the 
governor,  on  December  9,  1903. 

On  the  day  following  the  despatch  of  the  telegram 
a  letter  from  Plehve  reached  Prince  Urussoff,  in 
which  the  former  desired  that  the  proceedings  of 
Lokoloff  in  Kishinef  be  immediately  reported  and 
his  exile  to  the  north  decreed.  Prince  Urussoff  him- 
self visited  Lokoloff  in  prison,  and  made  him  ac- 
quainted with  Plehve' s  message,  whereupon  Loko- 
loff wrote  a  protocol  in  answer  to  four  charges 
based  upon  data  furnished  by  the  gendarmes,  as 
follows  (the  accusation  is  given  first  and  is  followed 
by  Lokoloff 's  answer) : 

221 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"  I.  It  is  asserted  that  you  have  come  to  Kishinef  in  a 
professional  capacity,  with  the  ostensible  purpose  of  af- 
fording legal  assistance  to  the  injured  parties,  but  in  reality 
to  carry  on,  in  conjunction  with  other  persons  whose  ac- 
tivity in  opposition  to  the  government  is  well  known,  a 
private  investigation  parallel  with  the  legal  one,  to  incite 
the  Jews  to  make  biased  statements,  serviceable  to  the 
purposes  of  the  opposition,  and  to  bring  forward  ground- 
less complaints. 

"Answer.  Yes,  I  have  carried  on  an  investigation,  and 
in  so  doing  have  only  discharged  my  duty.  It  is  not  for- 
bidden in  our  country  to  conduct  investigation  openly  or 
secretly.  My  course  of  action  was  dictated  solely  by  the 
interests  of  my  clients  and  the  inadequate  official  inves- 
tigation. Very  rich  men  took  part  in  the  disturbances; 
but  the  official  investigation  detected  only  poor  ones  as 
the  accused.  The  interests  of  the  injured  persons,  how- 
ever, demand  that  the  rich  culprits  also  be  brought  to  jus- 
tice. The  investigation  made  by  me  was  no  secret.  The 
governor,  the  state  attorney,  the  court  of  appeal,  and  the 
county  court  knew  of  it;  and  I  received  my  information 
in  regard  to  the  disturbances  from  inhabitants  of  the  city. 
In  order  to  secure  this  information,  I  questioned  many 
hundreds  of  people  who  had  been  witnesses  of  the  dis- 
turbances. My  offices  were  in  special  rooms,  which  were 
known  to  the  police.  The  assertion  that  the  testimony 
was  biased  and  false  is  itself  false. 

"II.  You  have  deliberately  spread  false  assertions  in 
order  to  discredit  the  local  authorities  in  the  eyes  of  the 
government. 

"Answer.  I  have  never  deliberately  spread  false  asser- 
tions in  order  to  discredit  the  local  authorities  in  the  eyes 
of  the  government. 

"III.  You  have  made  use  of  your  official  position  as 
counsel  to  publish  information  concerning  proceedings  in 
closed  sessions,  including  the  deliberately  false  assertion 
that  in  the  legal  process  the  connivance  of  the  au- 
thorities in   the    organization    of   the    disturbances,  with 

222 


THE    LEGAL    PROFESSION 

the  help  of  the  authorities  and  of  the  troops,  was 
proved. 

"  Ansiver.  I  have  never  said  that  the  disturbances  were 
organized  by  the  government.  But  from  very  exact  state- 
ments of  witnesses,  I  consider  it  proved  that  the  disturb- 
ances were  organized  with  the  help  of  very  many  official 
persons  —  as,  for  instance,  Baron  Levendahl.  [Here  fol- 
lowed an  exact  statement  of  the  details  of  the  action  of 
Levendahl,  which  space  will  not  permit  me  to  give.]  The 
judge  during  the  investigation,  Freynat,  himself  acknowl- 
edged to  me  that  the  leaders  of  the  incendiaries  were  agents 
of  Levendahl.  I  myself  demanded  the  attendance  of  Judge 
Freynat  as  a  witness  to  this.  He  was  called,  but  not  until 
after  all  the  lawyers  had  been  excluded! 

"The  agents  of  Levendahl,  who  were  imprisoned  with 
the  murderers,  were  set  free  in  the  course  of  a  few  days,  as 
is  testified  to  by  witnesses. 

"IV.  You  are  in  very  intimate  relations  with  persons 
who  belong  to  the  radical  opposition.  These  persons  are 
Dr.  Doroshevsky  and  Miss  Nemtzeva. 

"Answer.  Relations  are  not  forbidden.  I  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Dr.  Doroshevsky  and  Miss  Nemtzeva  only 
because  they  took  part  in  the  'pogrom,'  to  the  extent 
of  saving  many  Jews.  Miss  Vera  Nemtzeva  is,  moreover, 
the  daughter  of  a  respected  proprietor." 

Lokoloff  wrote  to  the  governor  from  prison  to 
the  effect  that  the  accusations  were  groundless,  and 
that  he  was  not  guilty.  On  the  receipt  of  this  letter 
Prince  Urussoff  visited  him  in  his  cell  and  admitted 
that,  in  his  judgment,  Lokoloff  was,  in  fact,  wrong- 
fully imprisoned.  The  imprisonment,  however,  had 
been  in  obedience  to  an  order  from  the  minister  of 
the  interior.  The  prince  showed  Lokoloff  a  copy 
of  a  letter  which  he  had  sent  to  Plehve.     This  let- 

223 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

ter  stated  that  according  to  Prince  Urussoff's  in- 
terpretation of  the  law  the  action  of  Lokoloff  did 
not  constitute  a  crime,  and  that  therefore  he  could 
not  order  his  banishment  to  the  north,  but  that 
Lokoloff  was  "fanatically  convinced"  that  the 
"pogrom"  had  been  organized  with  the  conni- 
vance of  the  authorities,  and  that  he  had  uncon- 
sciously imparted  this  conviction  to  those  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact.  Therefore  his  residence 
in  Kishinef  must  be  considered  dangerous. 

After  some  days  Urussoff  received  a  telegram 
from  Plehve  directing  that  Lokoloff  be  liberated 
and  that  he  be  expelled  from  Kishinef. 

Plehve' s  order  was  communicated  by  the  governor 
to  Lokoloff,  who  expressed  his  astonishment  that 
he  should  be  expelled  from  Kishinef,  while  Pronin, 
who  in  Urussoff's  own  opinion  was  one  of  the  chief 
offenders,  was  allowed  to  remain.  This  order,  he 
added,  would  not  tend  to  a  feeling  of  confidence  in 
justice  in  Bessarabia. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  expulsion  of  Lokoloff 
was  generally  looked  upon  as  fresh  evidence  of  the 
complicity  of  the  government  in  the  disturbances. 

No  one  in  Kishinef  now  knows  anything  more 
about  the  affair.  Pereverseff,  who  had  directly 
attacked  the  government,  was  severely  punished 
and  banished;  Lokoloff  was  expelled.  "All  quiet  in 
Schepko  Street." 

Of  course  the  members  of  the  legal  profession  in 
Russia  do  not  regard  the  matter  with  indifference. 

224 


THE    LEGAL    PROFESSION 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Association  of  La\vyers'  As- 
sistants the  sympathy  of  those  present  was  extend- 
ed to  Lokoloff ;  and  at  the  monthly  banquet  of  the 
Literary  Alliance  at  St.  Petersburg  the  members 
even  went  so  far  as  to  express  its  disapprobation  of 
the  action  of  the  government  in  the  affair. 

The  minister  of  justice,  Muraviev,  however,  the 
worthy  colleague  of  Plehve,  explained  to  a  deputa- 
tion of  lawyers  which  congratulated  him  on  his 
jubilee  in  January  last,  that  he  was  favorably  dis- 
posed towards  the  profession,  but  that  advocates 
would  do  well  to  avoid  ''pleading  politically,''  since 
it  was  very  prejudical,  indeed  dangerous,  to  the  pro- 
fession, which  might  easily  suffer  for  its  indepen- 
dence.    A  word  to  the  wise,  etc. 

Such  are  the  joys  of  the  legal  profession  in  Rus- 
sia, and  such  is  the  fate  of  those  who  speak  in  de- 
fence of  the  right.  The  people  of  other  countries 
will  appreciate  the  services  to  truth  and  justice 
which,  in  spite  of  all  obstacles,  the  undaunted  ad- 
vocate performs. 

Such  are  some  of  the  stem  realities  of  an  ad- 
vocate's life  in  Russia,  and  such  the  possible,  nay 
probable,  fate  of  any  one  who  "pleads  politically"  in 
defence  of  the  right.  It  will  be  apparent  to  the 
citizens  of  other  countries  at  what  a  cost  the  con- 
scientious members  of  the  legal  profession  discharge, 
in  spite  of  endless  obstacles,  their  duty  to  truth  and 
justice. 


XXIII 

THE    STUDENT    BODY    IN   RUSSIA 

NOT  very  long  after  the  dismissal  of  the  former 
minister  of  education,  Sanger,  I  sought  out  a 
certain  university  professor  who  had  been  mentioned 
to  me  as  being  accurately  informed  about  university 
affairs.  Of  course,  my  visit  to  him  had  been 
carefully  planned,  for  it  is  not  possible  in  Russia 
for  a  person — least  of  all  if  he  be  an  official — to 
express  himself  freely  to  strangers. 

The  information  which  I  received  from  this 
authority  on  the  general  political  and  economic 
position  of  Russia  agreed  with  the  discussions  I  had 
heard  on  every  side.  Misery,  despair,  inevitable 
collapse,  these  were  the  words  which  were  most 
noticeable  in  his  description,  too,  and  it  would  be 
almost  superfluous  for  one  to  reproduce  the  con- 
versation unless  certain  additional  details  had 
been  brought  out  which  are  particularly  character- 
istic of  the  intense  ferment  in  which  intellectual 
Russia  is  at  just  this  time  involved. 

Just  previously  several  students  had  been  ar- 
rested. I  asked  about  the  cause  of  the  arrest  and 
the  probable  fate  of  the  young  folks.     A  demon- 

226 


STUDENT    BODY    IN    RUSSIA 

stration  in  favor  of  the  Japanese  had  been  held  by 
the  students,  and  had  been  reported.  This  was 
the  cause  of  the  arrest.  "As  yet  nothing  can  be 
said  about  the  fate  of  the  incautious  young  men," 
the  professor  answered. 

"  You  say  that  the  students  held  a  demonstration 
for  the  Japanese?     It  is  scarcely  credible!" 

"And  yet  it  is  true.  All  enlightened  people,  and 
accordingly  the  students,  too,  regard  the  Japanese 
as  an  unexpected  ally  in  their  fight  against  the 
existing  conditions,  and  so  sympathy  for  them  is 
not  concealed.  And,  besides,  aversion  to  them  as  a 
nation  does  not  exist." 

"  But  it  is  the  very  brothers  and  fellow-country- 
men of  the  students  who  must  pay  for  it  with  their 
own  blood  if  the  Japanese  retain  the  upper  hand!" 

"That  is  partially  true.  But,  first  of  all,  Poles, 
Jews,  and  Armenians  have  been  sent  to  the  seat  of 
war,  so  that  the  Russian  families  do  not  as  yet  feel 
the  war  so  keenly ;  and  then  the  Russian  is  used  to 
the  idea  that  there  must  be  bloody  sacrifices  for 
the  cause  of  freedom.  At  any  rate,  those  who  were 
arrested  are  much  nearer  the  other  students  than 
the  troops  who  have  gone  to  the  front." 

"But  they  challenged  their  fate!" 

"That  is  a  part  of  the  fight  against  the  regime. 
They  seek  martyrdom,  since  they  have  become  con- 
vinced that  nothing  can  be  attained  by  bare  pro- 
tests and  petitions.  Perhaps  a  trace  of  Asiatic 
fatalism,  and  a  lower  valuation  upon  life  than  is 

227 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

given  it  in  the  West,  plays  a  part  in  their  acts,  but, 
more  powerful  than  all  else  probably,  their  con- 
viction that  public  opinion  appreciates  their  sac- 
rifices and  approves  of  their  conduct." 

"Then  ambition  is  also  an  influence?" 

"  If  you  care  to  call  it  so.  There  is  a  little  am- 
bition in  every  martyrdom.  But  the  strongest 
motive  is  that  youthful  self-sacrifice,  and  the  belief 
that  something  can  be  attained  for  the  cause  by 
their  offering  themselves  up — in  short,  fanaticism. 
In  this  way  some  of  the  most  incredible  things  oc- 
cur; for  example,  a  student  in  prison  emptied  an  oil 
lamp  over  his  body  and  set  fire  to  it  only  in  order 
to  protest  against  absolutism." 

"  I  have  heard  this  horrible  story." 

"Those  who  are  now  under  arrest,"  the  professor 
continued,  "will  probably  most  of  them  soon  be  let 
free,  for  I  do  not  believe  that  the  authorities  have 
at  present  any  desire  to  raise  much  of  a  storm.  But 
as  many  of  them  as  are  Jews  will  in  all  probability 
be  more  severely  punished,  if  only  for  statistical 
reasons." 

"I  understand." 

"Oh  yes.  You  know  that  the  police  have  their 
special  code  for  the  Jews,  so  as  to  prove  that  the 
discontent  is  entirely  due  to  them.  Plehve  asserts 
that  he  has  forty  thousand  political  indictments, 
eighty  per  cent,  of  the  indicted  being  Jews.  That 
is  made  up  to  suit  themselves,  and  has  nothing  to 
do  with  turbulence.     On  the  other  hand,  I  dare  say, 

228 


STUDENT    BODY    IN    RUSSIA 

that  quite  often  just  for  this  statistical  reason,  and 
because  the  Jews  are  punished  quite  differently 
from  the  sons  of  distinguished  families,  the  Jews 
are  urged  by  their  congeners  not  to  expose  them- 
selves; but  they,  too,  are  of  course  infected  by  the 
general  fanaticism  of  self-sacrifice." 

"But  from  what  do  the  special  student  disturb- 
ances about  which  we  hear  so  much  proceed  ?  Are 
they  not  caused  by  troubles  in  the  universities?" 

"  Only  in  the  very  rarest  cases.  It  is  occurrences 
of  general  politics  which  find  a  particularly  lively 
echo  among  the  students;  the  reforms  which  are 
demanded  for  the  university  by  us,  the  professors, 
are  even  repudiated  by  the  students,  because  they 
do  not  wish  to  let  the  causes  of  their  discontent  be 
removed." 

"  What  is  the  nature  of  the  reforms  in  question  ?" 

"  General  Wannowski,  former  minister  of  educa- 
tion, was  perhaps  a  man  of  limited  capacity,  who 
considered  the  university  a  barracks,  the  professors 
colonels  and  other  officers,  the  students  privates, 
and  explained  that  the  only  thing  lacking  was  non- 
commissioned officers  to  keep  their  respective 
squads  in  order.  Still  he  showed  us  the  considera- 
tion of  asking  us  eighteen  questions  which  were  to 
be  answered  by  the  faculties.  Look  here" — the 
professor  pointed  to  a  heavy  bundle  of  printed 
matter — "  here  you  have  the  results  of  our  inquest." 

"And  what  is  the  substance  of  your  wishes,  to 
put  it  into  a  very  few  words?" 

229 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"One  word  is  sufficient,  'Autonomy.'  We  want 
independence  in  teaching,  '  Lehrfreiheit '  as  it  is  in 
Germany,  independent  regulation  of  our  own  af- 
fairs, and  liberation  from  the  direction  of  another 
department  which  has  neither  interest  in  us  nor 
understanding  of  us.  This  demand  was  unani- 
mously expressed  by  all  the  universities ;  in  Moscow 
only  two  professors  in  the  whole  faculty  declared 
themselves  for  the  prevalent  system." 

"Was  anything  accomplished  by  this  inquest?" 

"To  a  slight  extent.  We  obtained  a  university 
court,  constituted  of  professors,  and  the  permission 
to  form  scientific  societies  among  the  students." 

"  That  is  not  so  bad.  And  you  say  that  the  stu- 
dents are  not  in  sympathy  with  that?" 

"No,  they  are  afraid  that  discontent  may  be 
lessened  by  these  concessions,  and  they  wish  to  be 
discontented  until  they  have  accomplished  every- 
thing." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  '  everything '  ? " 

"A  constitution  and  freedom  of  the  press.  They 
do  not  even  use  the  right  to  form  scientific  societies. 
At  present  there  is  no  studying  done  at  our  univer- 
sities; politics  have  swallowed  up  everything,  and 
the  radical  element  has  seized  the  leadership  com- 
pletely. They  hope  in  a  few  months,  by  means  of 
demonstrations,  and  Heaven  knows  what  fateful 
resources,  to  attain  a  constitution,  and  after  that 
there  will  always  be  time  enough  for  study.  At 
present,  study,  too,  would  be  treason  against  the 

230 


STUDENT    BODY    IN    RUSSIA 

cause  of  freedom.  The  universities  are  only  polit- 
ical camps  awaiting  the  call  to  arms  and  nothing 
more." 

"  But  in  this  respect,  at  least,  they  must  be  glad 
of  their  independent  university  courts — that  is,  that 
at  any  rate  they  punish  their  youthful  misdeeds 
more  leniently  than  the  police." 

"No.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  only  disciplinary 
matters  over  which  our  court  has  jurisdiction ;  and 
then,  in  the  second  place,  you  forget  that  the  stu- 
dents do  not  at  all  want  to  be  mildly  treated,  but 
to  be  sacrificed." 

"Of  course.  It  is  hard  to  reckon  with  motives 
that  one  scarcely  understands.  But  one  thing  is 
still  unintelligible  to  me.  It  cannot  exactly  be 
said  that  Russia  is  a  radical  country  in  the  sense 
that  the  whole  upper  stratum  is  radical.  How  is 
it  that  the  student  body,  which  comes  principally 
from  this  upper  stratum,  is  so  laden  with  revolution- 
ary tendencies?" 

"I  might  answer  you  in  a  French  phrase,  al- 
though it  is  not  particularly  flattering  to  us,  'Le 
Russe  est  liberal  jusqu'a  trente  ans,  et  apres — 
canaille.'  *  The  Russian  is  absolutely  not  conserv- 
ative, not  even  the  official.  He  can  mock  con- 
servatism while  seeking  office,  but  in  his  own  house 
he  remains  a  free  -  thinker,  and  youth,  which  has 
not  yet  learned  to  cringe  and  hedge,   blushes  at 

'The  Russian  is  liberal  until  his  thirtieth  year  —  and 
then  he  joins  the  rabble. 

231 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

the  two-facedness  of  its  parentage,  and  continually 
reveals  the  true  attitude  of  the  house.  Then,  with 
the  exception  of  the  high  nobility,  our  whole  land- 
owner class  is  more  than  liberal.  Moreover,  from 
two  to  three  hundred  conservative  students  are  to 
be  found  at  each  of  the  great  universities,  and  they 
have  formed  a  secret  association  for  the  protection 
of  the  sacred  regime — and  it  is  characteristic  that 
the  Novoye  Vremya  was  allowed  to  print  the  call 
to  form  this  secret  society,  although  here  in  Russia 
all  secret  societies  are  illegal." 

"And  are  not  these  conservative  students  dan- 
gerous to  their  fellows  ?" 

"Up  to  the  present  they  have  confined  them- 
selves to  patriotic  demonstrations.  They  might  be- 
come dangerous  if  they  once  decided  to  go  to  lect- 
ures— not  even  then  to  their  fellow-students,  but 
to  the  professors,  who  have  greater  doctrinal  free- 
dom, and  who  also  make  use  of  the  right  to  express 
their  opinions,  of  course  within  the  limits  of  their 
special  subjects.  [Shortly  after  this  interview  a 
professor  in  Kharkov  who  had  expressed  sympathy 
for  the  Japanese  was  actually  informed  against  by 
the  conservative  students  and  disciplined  by  the 
authorities,  a  thing  which  led  to  great  student 
demonstrations.]  Moreover,  there  are  special  spies 
which  keep  watch  over  the  professors  and  students, 
but  luckily  they  are  too  illiterate  to  understand  the 
import  of  what  is  said,  and  therefore  can  do  little 
damage." 

232 


STUDENT    BODY    IN    RUSSIA 

"Are  the  professors  sufficiently  in  sympathy  with 
each  other  for  the  formation  of  a  university  esprit 
de  corps?" 

"  Most  certainly.  The  common  suffering,  the  fact 
that  they  are  forbidden  to  take  open  part  in  politics 
draw  them  together.  Where  in  other  places  rival- 
ries and  differences  of  opinion  occasion  dissensions, 
here  there  is  to  be  found  only  one  solid  whole — op- 
pression is  the  firm  cement.  And  only  in  this  way  is 
it  possible  to  make  some  resistance  to  the  absolu- 
tism of  the  police.  In  open  resistance  we  are  quite 
weak,  yes,  even  defenceless,  against  the  brutality  of 
the  regime,  but  in  passive  resistance  w^e  are  almost 
unconquerable  because  of  our  close  contact  with 
each  other." 

"Ah!  And  so  here  there  is  brought  to  my  atten- 
tion one  of  those  subterranean  sources  of  public 
opinion  in  Russia,  which  I  have  so  long  sought." 

"Of  course.  The  universities  form  at  least  one 
of  the  main  channels." 

"And  you  consider  the  next  generation  to  be 
thoroughly  impregnated  with  ideas  of  indepen- 
dence?" 

"Thoroughly." 

To  the  question  with  which  I  always  parted  from 
my  authorities — that  is,  what  he  believed  the  im- 
mediate future  contained  for  Russia — this  professor, 
whose  department  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  indicate, 
but  of  whom  I  can  say  that  he  is  particularly  well 
informed,  gave  the  following  answer: 

233 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"  We  are  exhausted.  The  transition  to  the  financ- 
ing of  railroads,  tariff  legislation,  the  tightening  of 
screws  of  taxation  bring  in  money  for  a  while,  but 
no  real  power.  We  are  on  the  brink  of  a  crisis. 
I  believe  that  the  war  will  greatly  accelerate  and 
force  us  to  discount  our  coupons.*  Then,  in  my 
opinion,  it  cannot  be  long  before  a  sort  of  national 
assembly  is  called.  This  is  my  belief  and  my  hope. 
Conditions  of  excitement  like  the  present  ones  at  our 
universities  cannot  be  long  endured  under  any  cir- 
cumstances. In  one  way  or  another  a  change  must 
take  place,  and  we  must  hold  fast  to  the  hope  of 
better  things." 

'  Den  Coupon  zu  ktirzen. 


XXIV 

BEFORE   THE   CATASTROPHE* 

IF  you  wish  to  have  a  striking  evidence  of  the 
worth  of  our  government,  you  need  notice  only 
one  thing,"  said  an  entirely  unprejudiced  Russian 
to  me  one  day.  "We  have  as  many  questions  as 
we  have  classes  of  population.  We  have  a  Finnish 
question,  a  Polish,  a  Jewish,  a  Ruthenian,  and  a 
Caucasian  question.  We  have,  besides,  a  peasant 
question,  a  labor  question,  and  a  sectarian  ques- 
tion, and,  moreover,  a  student  question  also.  Wher- 
ever you  cut  into  the  conglomerate  of  the  Russian 
population,  lengthwise  or  crosswise,  everywhere  you 
strike  conflicts,  combustibles,  and  tension.  Not  a 
single  one  of  the  problems  which  may  exist  in  or- 
ganized states  in  general  is  solved,  but  every  one  has 
been  made  burning  and  dangerous  through  unskil- 
ful, brutal,  and  even  malicious  handling." 

The  man  who  spoke  in  this  way  was  not  a  Liberal, 
but  a  Conservative  aristocrat  in  the  state  service. 
I  had  reserved  him  for  the  end  in  my  journey  of 
research.     After  I  had  had  conversations  with  high 

'  An  interview  with  a  Russian  Conservative. 
235 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

officials  in  the  departments  of  education  and  of 
finance,  with  men  Hke  Prince  Ukhtomski,  with 
bankers  and  with  lawyers,  and  had  heard  always 
the  same  story  of  the  instability  of  things  and  the 
worthlessness  of  the  regime,  I  turned  to  the  friends 
who  by  their  influence  had  smoothed  the  way  for 
me  everywhere,  and  said  to  them:  "This  cannot  go 
on.  I  did  not  come  to  Russia  merely  to  be  shot,  as 
it  were,  out  of  a  pneumatic  tube  through  a  collection 
of  Liberal  and  Radical  malcontents.  I  do  not  wish 
to  hear  merely  the  opposition  in  Russia.  You 
must  gain  access  for  me  to  some  prominent  Con- 
servative also,  one  who  stands  on  the  basis  of  the 
present  system,  and  who  honestly  and  in  good  faith 
defends  it.  It  need  not  be  Suvorin  or  any  other 
man  of  questionable  honor,  for  I  myself  can  apply 
Stahl's  theories  to  Russian  conditions.  It  must  be 
a  sincere,  reputable,  and  sensible  man  with  whom 
I  can  discuss  the  most  widely  different  questions 
with  or  without  an  interpreter ;  either  is  the  same  to 
me." 

My  request  was  readily  granted.  A  scholar  ad- 
mired almost  to  the  point  of  worship,  in  whose 
house  I  had  been  entertained,  gave  me  a  letter  to 
the  Conservative  aristocrat  whose  words  I  have 
quoted  at  the  beginning  of  this  paper.  This  letter 
I  forwarded  to  the  honorable  gentleman  in  ques- 
tion, asking  for  an  interview,  and  by  return  mail  I 
received  a  reply  stating  that  he  would  expect  me 
that  same  afternoon. 

236 


BEFORE    THE    CATASTROPHE 

I  must  confess  that  I  anticipated  this  interview 
with  some  qualms.  It  was  towards  the  end  of  my 
visit.  The  results  hitherto  obtained  had  the  dis- 
advantage of  a  certain  monotony  of  sombreness, 
with,  however,  the  advantage  also  that  each  suc- 
ceeding interview  only  strengthened  the  impression 
gained  from  previous  ones.  Thus  by  degrees  I  had 
formed  a  very  sharply  defined  image  of  Russian  con- 
ditions— such  an  image  as  is  pictured  in  the  mind  of 
the  thinking  Russian.  Was  this  clear  and  distinct 
image  now  to  be  dispelled  by  the  lye  of  this  Con- 
servative critic,  and  was  I  to  lose  the  chief  result 
of  my  journey,  a  confidence  in  the  trustworthiness 
of  the  data  hitherto  accumulated? 

I  met  the  gentleman  at  his  house  at  the  appointed 
time,  and  learned  at  once  that  I  had  been  especial- 
ly commended  to  him.  I  therefore  entered  with- 
out hesitation  upon  the  matter  in  which  I  was  in- 
terested. 

"  I  do  not  wish,"  I  began,  "to  go  through  Russia 
in  blinders.  If  your  excellency,  as  a  Conservative, 
will  have  the  goodness  to  refute  what  I  have  heard 
hitherto,  and  will  give  me  more  accurate  informa- 
tion, I  shall  be  under  great  obligation." 

"What  have  you  heard?"  asked  the  count. 

"That  Russia  is  starving,  while  the  papers  report 
a  surplus  in  the  treasury." 

"That,  unfortunately,  is  true." 

"That  your  thinking  people  are  in  despair." 

"Also  true." 

237 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"That  a  revival  of  the  Reign  of  Terror  is  to  be 
feared." 

"Equally  true." 

"That  all  Russia  hopes  the  war  will  be  lost,  be- 
cause only  in  that  way  can  the  present  state  of 
things  be  brought  to  an  end." 

"True  again." 

"  That  the  present  regime  passes  all  bounds  of  de- 
pravity, and  can  be  compared  only  with  the  Prae- 
torian rule  in  the  period  of  the  decline  of  Rome." 

"That  understates  the  truth." 

My  face  must  have  taken  on  a  very  strange  ex- 
pression during  this  brisk  play  of  question  and  an- 
swer, for  the  count  now  took  the  initiative,  and  said : 

"You  are,  I  can  see,  surprised  that  I,  as  a  Con- 
servative and  a  state  official,  should  answer  in  this 
way ;  but  I  hope  you  do  not  consider  '  conservative ' 
and  'infamous'  synonymous  terms.  If  you  do  not, 
you  will  not  expect  me  to  approve  the  regime  of 
Plehve.  That  is  not  a  Conservative  regime.  It  is 
the  regime  of  hell  founded  by  a  devil  at  the  head 
of  the  most  important  department."  (Here  came 
the  speech  with  which  this  paper  began.)  The 
count  then  proceeded:  "Do  not  suppose  that  Rus- 
sia is  of  necessity  smitten  with  such  serious  prob- 
lems. These  questions  are  nowhere  simpler  than 
with  us.  We  have  no  national  problems  like  those 
of  Prussia,  for  instance,  or  of  Austria-Hungary,  which 
are  complicated  by  the  fact  that  majorities  and 
minorities  are  mixed  together  almost  beyond  separa- 

238 


BEFORE    THE    CATASTROPHE 

tion.  We  have  even  in  Poland  almost  no  national 
aspirations  regarding  which  we  could  not  come  to 
a  peaceable  understanding.  Our  nationalities  live 
almost  entirely  distinct,  in  compact  bodies  side  by 
side;  even  the  Finns  are  politically  separate.  It 
would  be  an  easy  thing  to  make  them  all  contented 
under  just  maintenance  of  the  supremacy  of  the 
Czar.  But  the  priestlike  intolerance  of  Pobydo- 
nostzev  has  spread  the  idea  in  the  world  that  all 
diversities  of  religion  and  speech  must  be  ironed 
out  with  a  hot  flat-iron,  even  at  the  risk  of  singeing 
heads.  Since  then  it  is  considered  patriotic  to  re- 
press men  and  convictions.  For  this  business  un- 
clean creatures  are  to  be  found  who  make  careers 
for  themselves  in  this  way;  and  their  prototype  is 
the  tenfold  renegade  Plehve." 

"Yet  I  cannot  conceal  my  astonishment,  your 
excellency,  that  you,  as  a  Conservative,  have  this 
opinion  of  the  system  of  Pobydonostzev." 

"  Why  is  that  so  illogical  ?  Conservative  thought 
is,  above  all,  that  of  organic  development.  All  vio- 
lence is  revolutionary  in  its  essence,  whether  it 
serves  reactionary  or  republican  tendencies.  The 
system  of  Pobydonostzev  is  revolutionary  and  re- 
actionary. In  his  fashion  Plehve,  however,  is 
simply  a  monstrovis  bill  of  extortion  against  the 
Czar  as  well  as  against  the  shackled  nation." 

"  Your  excellency  of  course  refers  to  the  idea  that 
Plehve  intimidates  the  Czar  by  threats  of  revolu- 
tion?" 

239 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

" That  is  not  an  idea  simply;  it  is  a  fact,  of  which 
we  have  very  definite  information.  But  what  not 
every  one  knows  is  the  fact  that  we  have  no  one  but 
Plehve  to  thank  for  this  war,  which  may  be  a  catas- 
trophe. He  had  a  finger  in  all  the  manoeuvres  of 
delay  which  provoked  the  Japanese  to  war,  because 
he  believed  that  he  could  no  longer  preserve  him- 
self in  any  other  way  than  by  diverting  public  at- 
tention from  conditions  in  the  interior,  and  by  rid- 
ding himself  of  those  who  were  dissatisfied  with  him 
into  the  bargain." 

"How  the  latter?" 

"  You  do  not  know  ?  It  is  very  simple.  The  first 
men  who  were  sent  to  Asia  were  the  Poles,  the  Jews, 
and  the  Armenians.  Among  our  troops  the  Poles 
were  five  times  as  largely  represented,  and  the  Jews 
even  more  so,  than  they  should  have  been  accord- 
ing to  their  census  number.  And  you  must  search 
to  discover  a  Christian  among  the  reserve  surgeons. 
Why  is  this  the  case?  To  get  rid  of  the  most  im- 
portant elements  of  the  malcontents  for  years,  per- 
haps forever.  Of  course,  the  Poles,  the  Jews,  and 
the  Ruthenians  have  the  most  cause  for  discontent. 
Meanwhile  there  is  peace  at  home." 

"Not  to  a  remarkable  extent,  I  observe." 

"Wait.  The  students,  who  are  so  incautious  in 
airing  their  ideas,  will  come  to  know  the  East." 

"Your  excellency,  no  Radical  has  spoken  like 
this." 

"  I  can  well  understand  that.  The  honorable 
240 


BEFORE    THE    CATASTROPHE 

Radicals  have  much  less  cause  to  be  dissatisfied  with 
this  rule  of  banditti,  for  it  sends  the  water  to  their 
mills.  But  a  Conservative  like  myself  sees  with 
horror  that  all  the  foundations  of  the  Conservative 
order  of  things  are  undermined,  and  that  we  are 
approaching  exactly  the  same  convulsions  that 
France  experienced  after  the  spontaneous  downfall 
of  her  absolute  monarchy." 

"  In  what  respect,  then,  does  your  excellency  dis- 
tinguish yourself  as  a  Conservative  from  the  so- 
called  Liberals  ?     Certainly  not  in  criticism  ?" 

"  I  will  explain.  The  Liberals  are  Girondists, 
with  their  ideas  adopted  from  Cahier  and  Rousseau. 
Minister  Turgot  was  a  Conserv^ative,  who  wished  to 
save  the  monarchy  by  trying  to  make  an  end  of 
the  loose  management  of  favorites.  We  Conserva- 
tives do  not  believe  in  a  constitution  or  a  parliament 
as  the  only  means  of  salvation.  We  Russians  are 
anything  but  ripe  for  that.  It  is  a  question  if  any 
people  of  the  Continent,  untrained  in  English  self- 
government,  are  ripe  for  it.  We  look  to  the  Czar 
for  salvation,  and  to  the  Czar  alone." 

"  Prince  Ukhtomski  says  much  the  same  thing. 
He  does  not  speak  of  Liberal  or  Conservative,  but 
only  of  an  intelligent  party  in  Russia,  and  he  be- 
lieves that  an  able  minister  could  save  the  whole 
situation." 

"  I  do  not  believe  that  for  an  instant.  For,  un- 
der the  present  circumstances,  an  able  and  honest 
minister  cannot  remain  at  court.  There  is  only  one 
i6  241 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

salvation — a  czar  who  is  so  educated  for  his  task  of 
ruhng  that  he  is  not  the  plaything  of  a  circle  of 
courtiers,  like  our  present  good  Emperor." 

"I  have  heard  a  saying  of  Pobydonostzev,  'Au- 
tocracy is  good,  but  it  involves  an  autocrat.'  " 

"Certainly;  even  if  it  were  not  Pobydonostzev's 
opinion.  For  brutality  alone  certainly  will  not  do. 
We  must  have  knowledge  of  the  subject  and  strength 
of  will." 

"Then  the  future  must  look  very  black  to  your 
excellency,  if  you  await  salvation  from  a  new  and 
better-trained  czar.  At  present  there  is  not  even 
a  prospect  of  a  successor  to  the  throne." 

"  It  looks  black  enough.  I  have  no  hope  at  all. 
For  what  is  hope  to  others  is  to  me  new  ground  for 
sorrow.  We  shall  be  defeated  in  Asia.  We  shall 
have  a  financial  crash — i.  e.,  our  long-existent  bank- 
ruptcy can  no  longer  be  veiled  by  juggling  with  the 
budget ;  and  then  we  shall  have  a  repetition  of  the 
old  game  of  revolutions  and  constitutions.  Some 
Western  ideas  on  constitution-making  will  be  im- 
ported and  will  not  work.  There  will  come  a  re- 
action, and  the  hand  of  every  man  will  be  against 
every  other.  ..." 

"Then  your  excellency  is  opposed  to  the  freedom 
of  the  press?" 

"God  forbid!  A  Conservative  regime  is  far  from 
being  a  police  regime.  We  must  have  a  public  opin- 
ion and  a  respectable  press,  and  a  press  without  free- 
dom cannot  be  respectable.     A  press  which  is  under 

242 


BEFORE    THE    CATASTROPHE 

strict  laws  but  not  under  police  tyranny,  and  an 
honorable  government,  can  both  be  brought  about 
more  easily  under  an  absolute  monarchy  than  un- 
der parliamentary  rule;  but  there  will  be  no  ques- 
tion of  all  this." 

"I  find  hardly  any  essential  difference  between 
the  ideas  your  excellency  represents  and  those  I 
have  been  hearing  for  months  in  Russia." 

"  You  oannot  wonder  at  that.  If  you  should  ask 
me  whether  the  snow  out-of-doors  is  white  or  green, 
I  also,  as  a  Conservative,  can  only  answer  that  it  is 
white.  We  are  in  a  bad'  way;  our  peasantry  is 
starving,  our  thinking  class  is  in  despair,  our 
finances  are  ravaged.  Yet  I  believe  that  far  more 
evil  days  are  before  us,  and  I  thank  God  that  I  am 
an  old  man  who  has  seen  the  worst." 

So  ended  my  interview  with  the  Conservative, 
whom  I  had  sought  out  for  the  correction  of  the 
Radical  views  I  had  heard.  In  the  evening  I  had 
to  make  a  report  to  my  friends,  who  had  waited  it 
in  suspense.  My  information  created  an  immense 
sensation.  Something  entirely  different  from  the 
interview  had  been  expected,  and  there  was  aston- 
ishment at  hearing  views  as  bitter  as  any  one  pres- 
ent could  have  formulated.  Had  he  permitted  me 
to  publish  the  conversation  with  his  name  ? 

"The  conversation,  but  not  his  name,"  I  an- 
swered. 

A  general  "Aha!"  went  up  from  all  present. 

**That  is  the  way  with  our  chinovniks,  remarked 
243 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

some  one;  "in  a  tete-a-tete  they  are  all  Liberal,  and 
as  soon  as  they  are  on  the  retired  list  they  are  all 
Radical." 

"I  beg  pardon.  Count  X spoke  with  de- 
cision against  a  constitution,  therefore  he  is  not  a 
Liberal." 

"  We  must  beg  of  you,"  came  in  an  almost  unani- 
mous chorus,  "for  Heaven's  sake,  not  to  adopt  this 
view  and  represent  it  abroad.  It  would  be  the 
greatest  misfortune  that  could  happen  to  us  if  the 
outer  world  should  believe  that  we  really  are  not 
ripe  for  a  constitution.  We  do  not  need  an  Eng- 
lish or  a  Belgian  constitution,  to  be  sure,  but  a 
free  parliament  and  a  free  press  we  do  need.  Other- 
wise there  is  no  reliance  to  be  placed  upon  any  re- 
form, and  the  farther  from  the  centre  the  more 
Asiatic  will  be  the  rule  of  the  satraps." 

"My  duty  is  to  report  and  not  to  judge,"  said  I, 
dryly.  "  I  owe  it  to  my  authority  to  reproduce  his 
views  as  he  gave  them  to  me.  The  only  thing  that 
I  can  do  is  to  add  your  criticism  to  my  report." 

They  were  satisfied  with  this  offer ;  and  in  accord- 
ance therewith  I  have  reproduced  the  interview. 


XXV 

SECTARIANS    AND    SOCIALISTS 

I  WAS  taken  one  day  to  see  a  young  Russian 
nobleman  who  was  making  a  special  study  of 
the  nature  of  sects.  We  drove  to  the  outermost 
skirts  of  Moscow  and  stopped  before  a  small  pal- 
ace. My  companion,  another  young  boyar,  spoke 
to  the  serv^ants,  and  after  a  few  minutes  we  were 
conducted  up  a  broad  marble  staircase  to  the  first 
floor,  where  a  suite  of  rooms  furnished  in  extremely 
modem  style  opened  out  before  us.  I  remarked  to 
my  companion  that,  after  all,  there  really  are  no 
boundaries  between  countries,  for  this  little  palace 
with  its  very  modem  interior  might  just  as  well 
have  been  in  Paris  or  London  as  here  in  Moscow. 
Instead  of  answering,  the  boyar  motioned  towards 
the  ikon  which  hung  in  a  comer.  Modem  furnish- 
ings, a  bookcase  filled  with  the  most  modem  phil- 
osophical literature,  and  above  it  the  orthodox  ikon 
— we  were  in  Moscow,  after  all. 

The  master  of  the  house  came  in  and  embraced 
and  kissed  his  friend.  I  was  introduced,  and  we 
shook  hands.  Cigarettes  were  lighted,  and  without 
further  formalities  the  young  host  took  some  manu- 

245 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

scripts  from  a  shelf  and  began  to  give  me  a  private 
reading.  Aly  companion  helped  out  when  the  read- 
er's vocabulary  failed  him.  It  is  thus  that  I  am 
in  a  position  to  give  from  my  notes  the  following 
excerpts  from  a  work  which  cannot  be  printed  in 
Russia,  because  it  deals  with  the  forbidden  subject 
of  the  character  of  sects  in  a  fashion  not  entirely 
acceptable  to  the  censor. 

The  significance  of  sects  in  the  inner  structure  of 
Russian  life  is  best  shown  by  some  figures  which 
give  approximately  their  membership.  In  the  year 
i860  about  ten  million  Raskolniks  (non  -  conform- 
ists) were  counted;  in  1878,  fourteen  milUon;  in 
1897,  twenty  million;  and  to-day  they  number 
thirty  million.  These  non-conformists  not  only  do 
not  belong  to  the  orthodox  church,  but  stand  in 
hostiHty  to  the  state,  which  identifies  itself  with 
the  orthodox  church.  The  sects  are  constantly  in- 
creasing in  number,  and  there  is  no  doubt  what- 
ever that  they  answer  much  better  to  the  religious 
needs  of  the  Russian  people  than  the  state  church, 
just  as  they  already  comprise  what  is  morally  the 
best  part  of  the  nation. 

The  sects  interested  me  less  in  themselves — al- 
though every  expression  of  the  human  instinct  of 
faith  is  of  psychological  interest — than  in  their  bear- 
ing on  the  question  as  to  how  far  they  are  united  to 
form  a  revolutionary^  army  which  could  disarm  and 
overthrow  the  autocracy  and  then  take  in  hand  the 
new  order  of  things.     I  tried  to  inform  myself  on 

246 


SECTARIANS    AND    SOCIALISTS 

this  point  from  my  attractive  host's  reading.  I 
also  asked  about  it  directly.  The  answers  I  re- 
ceived have  no  room  for  expectation  of  a  revolution- 
ary organization  in  the  near  future.  According  to 
them  deliverance  cannot  come  from  below.  Abso- 
lution no  longer  has  the  masses  in  hand,  but  it  is  at 
least  able  to  prevent  any  general,  all-inclusive  or- 
ganization of  the  dissatisfied ;  and  the  thinking  class 
in  the  opposition  to  the  government  did  not  find 
the  way  to  the  people  until  the  most  recent  times. 
Only  within  the  last  few  years  has  it  been  reported 
that  the  peasantry  is  beginning  to  show  symptoms 
of  unusual  fermentation,  the  authors  of  which  are 
unknown.  The  government  does  what  it  can.  It 
has  spent  nine  million  rubles  for  the  strengthening 
of  the  provincial  mounted  police.  According  to  the 
accepted  view  the  sects  arose  because  Patriarch 
Nikon  wished  to  have  the  sacred  writings  and  books 
of  ritual  then  in  use,  in  which  textual  errors  were  to 
be  found,  replaced  by  texts  carefully  revised  accord- 
ing to  the  originals.  The  clergy,  however,  clinging 
to  the  old  routine,  opposed  this.  When  the  great 
council  of  May  13,  1667,  declared  itself  in  favor  of 
Nikon's  proposed  reform,  the  division  became  com- 
plete. From  that  time  forward  the  opposition  of 
"Old  Believers"  (Starovertzy)  became  the  heart  of 
all  popular  movements  against  the  imperial  power. 
My  host  represented  a  different  shade  of  opinion. 
According  to  his  idea,  the  sects  arose  with  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity,  and  they  represent  the  op- 

247 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

position  of  the  simple  paganism  of  the  people  to 
the  complicated  casuistry  of  the  Byzantine  Church. 
Until  the  fourteenth  century,  he  thinks,  the  church 
tried  to  keep  with  the  sectarians,  and  suffered  the 
procession  to  go  according  to  the  old  pagan  usage, 
with  the  sun  instead  of  against  it.  Since  the  four- 
teenth century,  however,  the  church  has  identified 
itself  with  the  power  of  the  state.  From  this  time 
dates  the  hostility  of  the  sects  to  the  government. 
Nevertheless,  until  the  seventeenth  century,  local 
gods  were  tolerated  as  patron  saints.  But  when 
Bishop  Mascarius  issued  a  list  of  the  saints  recog- 
nized by  the  state,  the  quarrel  with  sects  which 
clung  to  their  own  saints  was  made  eternal.  Since 
that  time  the  sectarians  have  not  troubled  them- 
selves at  all  with  the  official  religious  literature. 
They  print  their  own  books  on  secret  presses. 

Sectarianism  really  represents,  therefore,  in  the 
first  place,  the  national  opposition  of  the  Russians  to 
Byzantium;  next,  the  opposition  to  St.  Petersburg, 
and  especially  to  Peter  the  Great,  who  was  and  is 
regarded  as  antichrist.  But  side  by  side  with  these 
nationalistic  religious  sects,  and  far  in  advance  of 
them,  have  grown  up  mystically  rationalistic  ones 
also.  Some  of  these,  going  back  to  early  Christian 
ideas,  refuse  to  bear  arms  and  to  take  oath  in  court, 
like  the  German  Anabaptists,  Nazarenes,  and  Bap- 
tists. Others  oppose  the  church  on  mere  grounds 
of  judgment,  and  lead  a  life  regulated  according  to 
the  teachings  of  pure  reason.     The  Old  Believers, 

248 


SECTARIANS    AND    SOCIALISTS 

after  long  and  terrible  martyrdoms  in  which  their 
priests  were  burned  or  otherwise  executed,  and  after 
a  sort  of  recantation,  finally  came  to  an  understand- 
ing with  the  state  and  are  at  present  in  part  tol- 
erated. 

The  great  majority  of  rationalistic — mystic — sects, 
however,  have  remained  hostile  to  the  government, 
and  are  persecuted  on  all  sides  by  the  state,  al- 
though a  great  part  of  their  members  lead  much 
more  moral  lives  than  the  orthodox  Russians. 

They  are  to  be  distinguished  at  present — sects  with 
priests  ("Popovtzy")  and  sects  without  priests 
("  Bezpopovtzy  ").  The  first  are  the  Old  Believers, 
who  are  especially  well  represented  in  the  rich  mer- 
chant class  in  Moscow  and  are  recognized  by  the 
state.  They  may  be  distinguished  by  their  uncut 
beards,  by  their  mode  of  crossing  themselves,  and 
by  their  great  piety. 

The  sects  without  priests  are,  however,  the  most 
interesting.  The  most  characteristic  among  them 
are  the  Self-burners,  or  Danielites,  the  Beguny,  or 
Pilgrims,  the  Khlysty,  or  Scourgers,  the  Skoptzy 
and  Skakuny,  or  Jumpers.*  Their  customs  show 
what  psychology  knows  already  —  namely,  that 
religious  emotion  leads  easily  to  sexual,  and  then 
both  tend  to  revel  in  bloody  ideas.  One  is  led,  in- 
deed, to  question  whether  the  fascinating  effect  of 
so  many  of  the  stories  of  saints  must  not  be  traced 

'  A  kind  of  Shakers. 
249 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

back  to  that  psychological  connection  in  the  sub- 
consciousness. With  the  Danielites  voluntar}'  death 
by  fire  is  considered  meritorious.  The  Beguny  are 
vagabonds,  "without  passport,"  an  unheard  -  of 
thing  according  to  Russian  ideas,  without  name, 
without  proper  institutions.  In  this  sect  men  and 
women  live  together  promiscuously.  They  are  sup- 
ported by  secret  members  of  the  sect  who  live  in 
towns,  and  who  do  not,  like  the  regular  Beguny, 
expose  themselves  to  the  standing  curse  of  anti- 
christ— i.  e.,  the  state.  The  Khlysty  have  direct 
revelations  from  heaven  in  the  state  of  ecstasy 
which  they  experience  at  their  devotional  meetings. 
They  are  flagellants,  dance  in  rings  until  they  are 
exhausted,  and  then  sink  all  together  in  a  general 
orgy.  The  Skoptzy  castrate  themselves  in  such 
circumstances.  The  Skakuny,  or  Jumpers,  dance 
in  pairs  in  the  woods  with  frightfully  dislocated 
limbs  until  they  sink  down  exhausted.  All  these 
sects  are  accused  of  child  murder.  They  are  said 
to  wish  to  send  children  unspotted  to  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  all  these  data 
are  unreliable,  because  no  stranger  is  admitted  to 
the  secret  devotions,  while  the  imaginations  of  the 
denouncers  has  just  as  much  tendency  to  revel  in 
sexual  and  sanguinar)^  ideas  as  that  of  the  exalted 
devotees.  The  persecution  of  these  sects  by  the 
government  is  easy  to  understand.  Spiritual  epi- 
demics must  be  fought  as  much  as  physical  disease. 
The  persecution  of  the  rationalistic  sects  is  quite 
250 


SECTARlAxNS    AND    SOCIALISTS 

unjustifiable.  They  do  not  deserve  the  name  of 
sects  at  all,  for  in  other  countries  similar  ones  form 
simply  free  political,  ethical,  or  philosophical  so- 
cieties. Certainly  they  can  only  benefit  the  com- 
munities in  which  they  exist  by  their  high  ideal  of 
integrity  and  strict  morality.  Count  Leo  Tolstoi 
has  already  made  the  banishment  of  the  Doukho- 
bors  known  to  all  the  world  as  an  infamous  pro- 
ceeding, and  has  thereby  raised  large  contributions 
for  their  settlement  in  Canada.  The  Shaloputy 
and  the  Alalevents,  for  the  most  part  Ruthenians, 
have  a  really  ideal  character,  free  from  the  narrov/- 
ness  and  superstition  of  the  church,  without  ritual, 
industrious,  helpful,  peaceful,  and  kindly.  They 
live  together  in  a  state  of  free-love  marriages,  with- 
out constraint  of  church  or  state,  neither  lie  nor 
swear,  and  do  good  even  to  their  enemies.  The 
Stundists,  who  are  said  to  have  originated  with 
the  German  pastor  Bonekemper,  in  the  Rohrbach 
colony  near  Odessa,  are  similarly  virtuous  commu- 
nists, who  do  not  trouble  themselves  about  the  state, 
hold  all  property  in  common,  adjust  all  quarrels 
among  themselves,  and  harm  nobody.  The  for- 
mula of  the  report  with  which  the  gendarmes  are 
accustomed  to  give  notice  of  the  discovery  of  a 
Stundist  is  characteristic:  "  I  was  passing  the  house 

of  Farmer  X and  his  son  and  saw  them  both 

reading  in  a  book.     I  entered  and  ascertained  that 

this  book  is  the  Gospel .    Farmer  X and  his  son  are 

therefore  Stundists,  and  as  such  are  most  respect- 

251 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

fully  reported  to  the  authorities."  Russian  nobles 
have  been  exiled  to  Siberia  for  the  crime  of  reading 
the  Gospel  to  their  servants.  A  former  officer  of 
the  guards,  Vassili  Alexandrovitch  Pashkov,  who 
dedicated  all  his  means  to  philanthropy  and  held 
religious  exercises,  was  expelled  from  St.  Petersburg 
and  the  movement  named  for  him  was  suppressed. 
Why  is  all  this  ?  The  narrow  -  mindedness  of 
Pobydonostzev's  system  permits  no  falling  -  away 
from  the  official  church.  The  police  state  tolerates 
no  suspicious  morality.  The  thinking  class  in  Rus- 
sia quote  with  bitterness  Aksakov's  saying,  "  Be  a 
rascal,  but  be  correct  in  your  politics"  ("Bud, 
razvraten,  no  bud,  blagonamyeren  ").  Debauch- 
ery is  directly  commended  to  young  men  of  good 
family  because  it  prevents  intense  absorption  in 
politics.  The  crime  of  the  Stundists,  Doukhobors, 
and  Malevents  consists  in  their  wishing  to  be  Chris- 
tians in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  in  being  disaffected 
towards  that  diabolical  machine  the  Russian  state. 
For  this  they  are  persecuted  in  the  name  of  Christ 
and  of  the  state,  but,  as  the  above-quoted  figures 
show,  without  result.  Sectarianism  grows  con- 
tinuously. Thus  Leo  Tolstoi's  religious  anarchy  is 
in  a  certain  way  comprehensible.  Whoever  looks 
about  him  sees  good  people  who,  without  making 
any  disturbance,  simply  turn  away  from  the  state 
as  something  unchristian  and  inhuman ;  and  he  may 
easily  fall  into  the  delusion  that  it  will  some  time 
be  possible  to  found  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon 

252 


SECTARIANS    AND    SOCIALISTS 

the  earth  through  the  spreading  of  these  teachings. 
Their  rise,  however,  is  only  too  comprehensible  in  a 
state  which  has  never  pretended  to  represent  the 
general  welfare  and  justice — means  by  which  even 
conscienceless  conquerors  and  despots  have  spread 
civilization. 

xA.ll  these  sects  are  limited  to  the  peasantry.  The 
sectarianism  of  the  cities  is  called  socialism.  Here, 
too,  one  must  use  the  word  "sectarianism."  For 
even  the  little  bands  of  organized  labor  split  im- 
mediately, after  the  Russian  fashion,  into  smaller 
groups;  and  even  the  intelligent  upper  classes  form 
just  as  many  little  circles,  each  with  its  own  doc- 
trine and  its  own  organ.  In  spite  of  all  efforts  I 
did  not  succeed  in  getting  approximately  reliable 
figures  for  the  strength  of  the  separate  socialistic 
groups.  The  estimates  varied  from  forty  thousand 
to  two  hundred  thousand,  and  are,  therefore,  en- 
tirely worthless.  In  regard  to  the  nature  of  the 
groups,  both  in  general  and  in  particular,  there  is 
much  more  definite  information. 

After  the  assassination  of  the  Czar  Alexander  II., 
which  no  one  in  Russia  will  believe  was  committed 
without  the  help  of  these  groups,  who  knew  definitely 
that  the  Emperor  intended  to  sign  an  order  for  ar- 
rest, the  small  and  entirely  isolated  group  of  per- 
haps a  hundred  and  fifty  desperadoes  was  simply 
exterminated,  and  several  thousand  people  were 
exiled  to  Siberia.  With  that  the  so-called  aggres- 
sion of  nihilism  came  to  an  end.     Malicious  persons, 

253 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

however,  think  it  ended  with  the  deed  which  was 
most  in  the  interest  of  the  omnipotent  poHce — name- 
ly, the  assassination  of  Alexander  IL  In  any  case, 
the  police  was  not  at  all  severe  in  getting  rid  of 
this  definitely  recognized  band.  At  that  time  the 
doctrine  of  Marx  was  beginning  to  spread  in  Russia. 
This  doctrine  was  looked  upon  by  the  authorities 
as  an  antidote  for  the  terrorism  of  anarchy.  The 
Marxists,  whose  organ  is  the  Iskra  (Ray,  or  Spark), 
are  doctrinaires  here  as  everyiviiere,  swear — at 
least  so  the  Revisionists  declare — by  the  theory 
that  the  poor  are  growing  poorer,  and  wish  the 
peasants  to  abandon  their  land  and  to  become  a 
wandering  proletariat  according  to  the  catechism 
of  Marx.  They  were  opposed  by  the  late  Mikhail- 
ovski,  who  knew  Russia  better  than  the  founders 
of  the  Iskra.  To-day  the  Marxists  are  supposed  to 
be  suppressed.  Besides  these  there  is  the  league 
with  the  two  Parisian  organs,  the  Revolutionary 
Russia,  a  monthly  printed  in  Russian,  and  the 
Russian  Tribune,  the  real  monitor  of  the  socialistic 
movement,  and,  next  to  Struve's  Oswohozhdenie,  the 
best  source  of  information  upon  Russian  conditions. 
The  leaguers  are  former  followers  of  Lasalle.  They 
are  exceedingly  troublesome  to  the  police  on  account 
of  their  close  organization. 

For  a  while  the  police  cherished  the  hope  of  being 
able  to  seize  the  labor  movement  for  their  own  pur- 
poses. A  certain  Subatov  invented  a  plan  by  which 
the  police  were  to  give  financial  support  to  the  or- 

254 


SECTARIANS    AND    SOCIALISTS 

ganization  of  labor,  and  in  exchange  to  require  the 
poHtical  good  conduct  of  the  organization.  The  in- 
dustrial barons,  however,  at  whose  expense  this 
treaty  of  peace  was  to  be  brought  about,  put  them- 
selves on  the  defensive.  Gouyon  in  particular,  a 
manufacturer  of  ]\Ioscow,  who  employs  over  five 
thousand  persons,  simply  threatened  to  close  his 
factory  if  the  inspectors  were  not  withdrawn.  So 
fell  Subatov,  leaving  only  his  name  behind  to  des- 
ignate those  who  still  put  in  a  good  word  for  police 
socialism.  They  are  called  "Subatovists."  With 
this  exception,  no  one  has  thought  of  an  honest  fac- 
tory inspection  as  an  effectual  help  for  the  work- 
men. 

The  socialistic  movement  is  seizing  not  only  the 
working  classes,  but  also  the  universities,  almost  all 
of  which  to-day  embrace  a  radicalism  certainly  re- 
lated to  socialism.  No  sharp  distinction  can  be 
made,  indeed,  between  these  two  stages  in  the  gen- 
eral dissatisfaction  and  fermentation.  The  police 
keeps  its  strictest  guard  upon  the  universities  and 
all  the  thinking  classes.  In  the  province  of  Irkutsk 
there  are  at  present  no  fewer  than  three  thousand 
political  exiles.  How  many  are  lashed  to  death 
with  knouts  in  police  prisons  no  man  knows.  The 
answer,  however,  is  found  in  those  unplanned  out- 
rages which  are  beginning  to  occur  again,  and  to 
which  a  governor  or  a  minister  falls  victim,  now  in 
one  place,  now  in  another.  An  outbreak  of  many 
of  these  is  generally  expected  in  the  near  future. 

255 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

There  is  still,  however,  a  conservative  element  in 
Russia.  I  asked  a  well-fed  Russian  tradesman,  a 
representative  "kupetz"  (small  dealer)  of  Moscow, 
what  he  thought  about  the  war  and  the  conditions 
in  the  country.  His  answer  was  so  characteristic 
that  I  must  give  it:  "It  is  not  anybody's  business 
to  think,  but  to  obey  God  and  the  Czar."  The 
present  order  of  things  in  Russia  rests  on  this  prin- 
ciple and  on  the  stupidity  of  the  half -savage  Cos- 
sacks. Therefore,  no  one  must  be  deceived  by  the 
symptoms  of  bitter  feeling.  A  revolution  under  or- 
ganized leadership  and  wdth  a  definite  object  is  im- 
possible. At  the  most,  single  nationalities  and  the 
starving  peasantry  may  rise  up,  to  suffer  a  sangui- 
nary overthrow.  Deliverance  is  not  yet  within  sight 
for  these  most  unfortunate  of  all  men.  National 
bankruptcy,  which  no  one  doubts  is  imminent,  will 
perhaps  bring  an  improvement.  Therefore  the 
Russians  pray,  desirous  to  hasten  it,  "God  help  us 
so  that  we  may  be  defeated." 


XXVI 

MOSCOW 

BLUE  heavens,  golden  cupolas,  green  towers, 
red  houses,  pealing  bells  above,  sleigh-bells  on 
the  streets,  praying  muzhiks  before  images  of  the 
saints,  beautiful  women  in  costly  furs — when  I  wish 
to  reconstruct  from  my  recollections  the  picture 
of  Moscow,  these  are  the  elements  which  at  first 
mingle,  charming,  chaotic,  like  the  colors  in  Cau- 
casian gold  -  enamel.  How  beautiful  a  city  this ! 
How  often  have  I  stood  upon  the  tower  of  the 
Ivan  Veliky  and  looked  down  on  this  endless  sea 
of  shining  cupolas  and  gay  roofs  crowded  upon 
gently  rising  hills  far  into  the  blue  haze  of  the  dis- 
tance! Never  was  the  Russian  love  of  home  so  in- 
telligible to  me  as  there  in  the  heart  of  Russia,  upon 
the  battlements  of  the  Kremlin,  high  above  the 
bank  of  the  Moskva!  And  involuntarily  I  won- 
dered, as,  indeed,  would  any  one  not  a  subject  of 
the  imperator,  who  has  looked  down  from  such 
battlements  upon  all  the  subject  masses  of  Rus- 
sians, whether  he  has  really  subjugated  them  or 
whether  they  have  only  been  brought  to  a  death- 
bringing  hibernation.  Esthetic,  ethnological,  his- 
torical, and  political  suggestions  swarm  to  the  mind 

'7  257 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

of  the  thoughtful  observer  in  this  place.  What  won- 
der if  the  Russian  feels  himself  here  on  holy  ground 
and  would  prefer  to  put  off  his  shoes  when  he  treads  it  ? 
The  tongue  of  the  people  has  a  kindly  word  for  St. 
Petersburg  and  a  pet  name  for  Moscow — "  Little 
Mother  Moscow,"  it  is  called,  the  real  capital  of 
Russiandom.  And  even  the  stranger  must  remark 
this  difference  of  treatment.  St.  Petersburg  aston- 
ishes, awes,  frightens.  Moscow  ingratiates  herself 
at  first  sight  and  wins  each  day  a  firmer  hold  on 
our  hearts.  One  thinks  with  a  certain  tenderness 
of  one's  stay  in  Moscow,  and  in  spite  of  unbelief 
predicts  to  himself  another  visit.  But  not  with  faith. 
For  unless  business  calls  him  there  he  is  not  likely 
to  make  a  second  visit  to  Moscow  in  a  lifetime. 
But  one  longs  to  pass  many  a  pleasant  day  in  this 
city,  so  curious  and  yet  so  homely,  with  her  kindly 
inhabitants.  Why?  It  would  be  hard  to  say  in 
a  few  words.  The  city  is  in  too  strong  a  contrast 
to  the  forced  founding  of  St.  Petersburg.  There 
the  hand  of  man  is  all  in  evidence;  nothing  is  re- 
freshing. A  great  prison  fortress  of  granite  blocks 
surrounded  by  huts  and  barracks.  Moscow  is  a 
product  of  nature,  founded  with  enthusiasm  by  its 
dwellers  in  response  to  the  open  invitation  of  nat- 
ure, and  adored  even  with  devotion.  Even  the 
stranger  feels  this,  even  though  there  is  nothing  to 
which  he  is  unaccustomed  except  the  devotion  and 
tenderness  of  a  people  to  whom  he  is  bound  by  not 
a  single  tie  of  common  association.     With  what 

258 


MOSCOW 

shudders  one  wanders  through  Rome,  from  ]\Iont 
Pincio  to  the  Vatican !  how  one  is  carried  on  by  the 
ocean  of  world  history  upon  the  Capitoline,  among 
the  excavations  of  the  Forum,  among  the  palace 
walls  of  the  Palatine!  What  is  to  us,  in  contrast, 
the  Kremlin,  this  sanctuary  of  half -Asiatic  bar- 
barians? Yes,  an  exoteric  delicacy,  nothing  else! 
One  cannot  free  one's  self  from  the  charm  of  these 
places.  Here  a  good-natured  folk  has  created  a 
jewel-box,  gay  and  dazzlingly  ornamented,  careless 
of  what  the  culture  of  the  West  has  declared  beau- 
tiful and  holy ;  hither  gravitate  all  the  national  feel- 
ings of  a  hundred  million  people;  and,  finally,  all 
this  is  created  to  the  harm  of  no  one,  to  frighten  no 
one,  to  oppress  no  one.  Here  the  Czar  is  not  the 
general-in-chief  of  so  many  million  bayonets,  but 
"Little  Father  Czar,"  who  yields  the  countless  holy 
images  and  chapels  just  the  same  devotion  as  his 
lowest  muzhik.  And  here  is  the  past — not  alone 
the  brazen,  threatening  present  —  the  past  of  a 
strange  people,  but  a  people  of  lovable  individuals, 
who,  besides,  are  brought  nearer  to  us  than  many 
of  our  nearest  neighbors  by  a  literature  of  unpar- 
alleled fidelity  to  life.  One  must  grow  to  love  this 
childlike,  slow -blooded,  and  yet  care -free  people, 
with  their  irresistible  heartiness.  And  he  who  has 
learned  to  love  the  Russians  must  love  their  Little 
Mother  Moscow,  in  spite  of,  or  just  on  account  of, 
her  quietness. 

From  St.  Petersburg  an  express  train  brings  us 
259 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

to  Moscow  in  thirteen  hours.  It  is  always  a  night 
train  that  disposes  of  this  traffic,  for  the  Russian 
likes  to  sleep  in  his  comfortable  berth.  And  so  we 
arrive  in  Moscow  in  the  morning,  ready  at  once  to 
assimilate  the  first  impressions  of  the  enormous 
city.  Our  expectancy  is  great,  of  course.  Moscow, 
the  object  of  all  most  Russian!  It  must  differ,  at 
first  sight,  from  all  we  have  as  yet  seen.  But  while 
the  hotel  omnibus  rattles  through  the  streets  from 
the  depot  but  little  that  is  peculiar  is  to  be  seen. 
An  affable  fellow-passenger  explains  to  us  that  that 
is  only  the  foreign  business  quarter.  But  now  one 
after  another  the  church  cupolas  appear,  one  after 
another  in  increasing  brightness  and  variety.  At 
our  "Ah!"  in  expression  of  our  satisfaction,  we  are 
instructed  that  we  had  better  be  more  sparing  of  that 
vowel  soimd  or  we  might  soon  become  hoarse.  Mos- 
cow has  no  less  than  four  hundred  and  fifty  such 
churches  and  twenty  cloisters  in  addition.  So  let 
us  be  sparing.  But  the  resolution  is  hard  to  keep. 
A  long  and  mighty  wall  suddenly  rises  before  us 
with  countless  angles,  towers,  and  turrets.  The 
wall  is  white,  the  towers  are  green,  and  through 
the  gate  we  see  long  streets  and  buildings  in  all  pos- 
sible colors,  dark  included.  It  is  Kitay-Gorod,  the 
inner  city,  with  the  bazars.  Bokhara  cannot  ap- 
pear more  Asiatic.  Now  we  feel  already  all  that 
we  are  about  to  see.  A  giant  modern  hotel  almost 
destroys  for  us  the  ensemble.  Look  quickly  to  your 
lodgings  and  then  out  again! 

260 


MOSCOW 

We  are  nicely  located.  From  our  windows  we 
see  the  towers  of  the  Kremlin,  which  rise  above 
the  nearest  roofs.  Let  him  who  will  endure  re- 
maining behind  double  windows!  After  washing 
and  having  some  tea  we  are  at  the  door  again,  and 
quickly  make  a  bargain  with  the  "  izwozchik  "  who  is 
to  drive  us  over  the  outlined  tour  of  the  city.  Horse 
and  sleigh  are  a  bit  smaller  than  in  St.  Petersburg, 
but  still  very  good.  And  so  we  are  out  in  the  sun- 
shine, off  into  the  snowy  landscape,  to  gain  a  hur- 
ried general  conception  of  the  endless  city. 

For  two  hours  our  good  little  horse  draws  us, 
gliding  over  bridges  and  pikes,  up  and  down  hill, 
and  when  we  return  half  frozen  to  the  hotel  we 
have  seen  scarce  a  fraction  of  the  periphery,  but 
a  thousand  teams,  with  shaggy  muzhiks  in  wicker 
sleighs,  and,  still  more,  little  country-houses  of  wood, 
which  might  serve  in  the  West  for  summer  cottages, 
but  which  offer  an  inviting  shelter  even  here  in  the 
icy  winter.  The  whole  of  Moscow  is  a  complex  of 
official  municipal  buildings  which  are  crowded  to- 
gether into  the  narrowest  space,  of  churches  and 
palaces  narrowly  crowded  about  the  Kremlin,  and 
of  immense  suburbs  which  lie  in  rings  about  the 
inner  town.  But  these  suburbs  have  a  half -country 
character — broad,  uneven  streets  and  low,  villa-like 
houses,  with  little  gardens.  Little  Mother  Moscow 
gives  her  children  room.  They  do  not  have  to 
crowd  together  in  usuriously  paying  tenements, 
and  houses  of  more  than  one  story  are  quite  the 

261 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

exception.  Even  in  the  shadow  of  the  Kremlin  a 
parterre  for  the  stores  and  a  single  story  above  it 
are  sufficient.  Really,  only  the  hotels  stretch  with 
three  or  four  stories  heavenward.  The  impression 
is  ever  recurring  that  Moscow  has  no  desire  to  be 
a  city,  and  only  quite  unwillingly  yields  to  the 
necessity  of  a  crowded  existence. 

The  Kremlin,  which  we  did  not  lose  sight  of  once 
on  our  whole  trip,  entices  us  strongly.  It  lies  be- 
fore us;  so  let  us  enter. 

Yes,  if  it  were  as  easily  done  as  said!  We  cross 
a  broad  square,  across  which  lean  little  horses  draw 
a  horse-car  high  as  the  first  story  of  a  house,  and 
then  we  stand  before  buildings  which  allow  us  to 
go  no  farther.  It  is  the  Duma,  the  city  hall,  on  the 
left,  and  the  historical  museum  on  the  right,  both 
dark-red  in  color;  on  the  latter  the  fagade  is  built 
entirely  of  darkened  stone,  so  that  it  gives  the  im- 
pression of  the  whole  being  incrusted.  The  style  is 
to  be  met  with  frequently.  It  belongs  to  the  six- 
teenth century  and  is  now  being  revived.  The 
idea  of  using  a  coating  of  Russian  enamel  as  an 
element  of  architectural  style  is  a  brilliant  one. 
We  reach  a  gate  of  the  high  wall  surrounding  the 
inner  city  Kitay-Gorod.  But  before  we  pass  the 
gate  let  us  cast  a  glance  at  the  peculiar  doings  in 
the  little  chapel,  scarcely  bigger  than  a  room,  which 
is  built  on  its  left  side.  It  is  the  Iberian  chapel,  with 
the  famed  image  of  the  Virgin  to  which  the  Czar 
pays  his  devotions  before  he  enters  the  Kremlin. 

262 


MOSCOW 

The  original,  with  its  genuine  precious  stones,  is  now 
in  the  city,  where  for  a  fee  it  is  brought  to  sick  peo- 
ple. In  the  mean  time  a  copy  takes  its  place.  At 
the  time  of  the  daily  excursions  of  the  Virgin  the 
governor-general,  Prince  Sergius,  does  not  allow  the 
Jews  to  remain  on  the  streets.  The  Blessed  Virgin 
may  not  see  upon  her  way  the  traces  of  Jewish  feet. 
Every  one  crosses  himself  before  her.  But  most 
climb  the  few  steps  to  her  and  cross  themselves 
again,  with  deep  bendings  of  the  upper  body;  but 
some,  men  as  well  as  women,  throw  themselves  full 
length  upon  the  ground  and  touch  the  earth  with 
their  foreheads.  The  candle  trade  flourishes ;  scarce- 
ly a  soul  enters  who  does  not  buy  a  candle  and  light 
it  before  some  image.  No  difference  of  station  can 
be  recognized.  The  great  lady,  the  high  official, 
the  dirty  muzhik,  all  are  the  same  in  their  wor- 
ship. Their  caps  are  continually  removed,  and  the 
rather  time-consuming  Russian  ceremony  of  mak- 
ing the  sign  of  the  cross  is  performed.  But  the 
really  pious  ones  do  not  content  themselves  with 
worshipping  before  the  gate.  They  do  the  same 
thing  again  when  inside. 

We  reach,  finally,  the  "Red  Square,"  so  called 
because  of  the  red  Kremlin  wall  and  the  red  group 
of  houses  at  the  entrance.  We  notice  again  that 
astonishment  does  not  exactly  make  one  brilliant. 
An  "Ah!"  in  unison  is  all  that  escapes  our  lips.  I 
believe  that  then  I  cried  out  with  enthusiasm,  and 
I  should  have  liked  to  take  by  the  coat-lapels  the 

263 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

people  who,  used  to  the  scene,  were  indifferently 
going  their  ways,  and  to  say  to  them:  "Look,  you 
barbarians!  Do  you  not  know  what  you  have 
here  ?"  Vasili  Blazhenny  (the  Basihus  Cathedral) ! 
Many  times  as  one  may  have  seen  the  curious  bit 
of  architecture  depicted  and  dissected,  yet  when 
one  finally  stands  before  it  and  allows  the  gay 
towers,  with  their  green,  red,  blue,  and  yellow  cu- 
polas to  make  their  impression,  he  seems  to  have 
entered  quite  another  world,  which  no  longer  has 
a  single  thing  in  common  with  our  Western  one.  A 
sovereign,  glorying  fantasy  has  here  been  formed 
and  created,  apparently  without  rule,  led  only  by 
the  law  of  variety;  has  made  wings,  doors,  and  wind 
ings,  and  in  the  narrowest  space  unfolded  a  rich- 
ness which  strikes  us  dumb,  much  as  our  feeling 
for  style  struggles  against  the  reversal  of  all  our 
national  laws.  One's  whole  architectural  sense  leans 
towards  clear  relationship  of  parts,  towards  rhythm 
and  proportion ;  the  artist  of  the  Basilius  Cathedral 
leans  towards  intricacy,  lack  of  rhythm,  dispropor- 
tion. He  is  a  colorist,  and  but  a  colorist,  in  con- 
trast to  our  Renaissance  artists,  to  whom  the  color 
seems  almost  an  injury  to  the  delicate  line.  And 
yet  in  all  this  gay  confusion  he  has  held  fast  to  a 
fundamental  feeling  which  in  all  the  variations 
keeps  returning,  as  in  a  joint — yes,  just  as  in  the 
wildest  dream  some  guiding  idea  like  a  red  thread 
follows  through  it  all.  This  motive — I  could  not 
help  always  calling  it  to  myself  the  Tschibuk  motive, 

264 


MOSCOW 

after  the  winding,  pearl-set  tubes  of  a  Turkish  pipe — 
is  carried  out  with  every  possible  Indian,  Persian, 
and  Roman  ingredient,  and  still  retains  the  char- 
acteristic Byzantine  style.  A  person  would  show 
great  partiality  to  call  this  building  a  mad-house,  as 
many  an  artist  has  done.  One  must  only  be  able 
to  free  himself  for  an  hour  from  the  dictator  of  the 
old  taste  in  order  to  be  able  to  comprehend  the 
delight  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  at  sight  of  this  archi- 
tectural orgy.  (He  gave  expression  to  this  delight 
by  having  the  eyes  of  the  architect  put  out  in 
order  that  he  might  build  no  second  masterpiece 
like  it.)  And  then  again  it  must  be  confessed  that 
the  task  of  uniting  in  narrow  space  thirteen  chapels 
with  thirteen  towers  could  not  well  have  been  solved 
in  any  other  way  than  in  this  apparently  most  un- 
trammelled, fantastic  one.  If  this  proposition  be 
accepted,  the  master  of  Vasili  Blazhenny  can  only 
be  the  object  of  wonder. 

Now  Vasili  Blazhenny  is  typical  of  all  Moscow, 
the  Kremlin  included.  It  is  the  spirit  of  curious 
variety,  of  rich  fantasy,  the  spirit  of  the  South 
and  the  East  which  rules  here.  The  snow  one  feels 
to  be  almost  out  of  place,  so  Southern  is  the  char- 
acter of  the  city.  The  Kremlin,  too,  before  which 
we  now  stand,  is  a  "free-act"  work  of  art,  a  piece 
something  like  the  San  Marco  quarter  in  Venice, 
if  one  thinks  of  the  sea  as  removed.  For  the  Krem- 
hn  must  not  be  thought  of  as  a  palace  is;  it  is  a 
whole  part  of  a  city,  surrounded  by  a  wall  twenty 

265 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

metres  high,  two  kilometres  long,  enclosing  an  ir- 
regular pentagon.  It  lies  on  a  rather  steeply  rising 
hill  on  the  bank  of  the  Moskva,  and  commands  the 
whole  region  round  about.  Its  beauty  is  not  to  be 
enjoyed  in  the  interior  of  the  many  churches,  pal- 
aces, and  barracks,  although  there  is  enough  worth 
seeing  there,  too.  It  only  opens  up  from  the  bal- 
cony of  the  Ivan  Veliky  tower,  or  from  the  bastion 
where  the  colossal  monument  of  Alexander  stands. 
But  the  most  beautiful  view  of  the  whole  complex 
is  from  the  far  bank  of  the  Moskva,  where  the  high 
wall,  with  its  countless  towers  and  cupolas,  seems 
like  the  birth  of  an  Oriental  dream  -  fantasy.  It 
shines  and  lightens  in  all  colors,  looks  into  the  air, 
and  speaks  kindly  greetings  to  all  below ;  one  could 
simply  sit  and  clap  one's  hands  for  joy.  But  to  the 
Russian  this  little  jewel-box  is  by  no  means  a  play- 
thing. On  the  contrary,  he  very  respectfully  bares 
his  head  and  ceases  not  to  cross  himself.  For 
"above  Moscow  is  only  the  Kremlin,  and  above 
the  Kremlin  is  only  heaven."  Within,  however, 
the  muzhik  regains  his  childlikeness,  and  when  he 
stands  before  the  enormous  cannon— "the  Czar  of 
Cannon,"  an  old  bronze  gun — he  invariably  climbs 
upon  the  pyramid  of  giant  balls  which  stands  before 
it,  climbs  aloft  and  gapes  into  the  yard-wide  mouth 
of  the  gun.  And  under  no  circumstances  does  he 
neglect  to  creep  into  the  hole  of  the  "Queen  of  the 
Bells,"  which  is  in  front  of  the  Ivan  Veliky,  in  which 
there  is  room  for  two  hundred  people. 

266 


MOSCOW 

We  who  are  not  childlike  muzhiks  may  not  al- 
low ourselves  such  diversions;  we  must  conscien- 
tiously see  all  the  wonders  of  this  greatest  of  all 
rarities,  a  thing  which  will  consume  at  least  a  day. 
We  spare  the  reader  our  experiences.  Even  the 
treasure-chamber  with  the  coronation  insignia  and 
jewels  big  as  one's  fist  cannot  inveigle  us  into  a 
description — all  that  could  be  seen  in  Berlin  or 
Vienna. 

Finally,  the  wonderful  beauty  of  the  colossal 
Church  of  the  Deliverer  must  here  be  spoken  of. 
The  work  is  too  unique  in  its  nature  to  allow  of 
being  passed  over  in  silence.  The  church  is  built 
apart,  is  visible  afar,  and  forms  the  glorious  com- 
pletion of  the  Kremlin  picture  seen  from  the  Mosk- 
va. In  its  mighty  height,  with  its  colossal,  gilded 
domes,  of  which  the  middle  one  measures  thirty 
metres  in  diameter,  it  lightens  like  a  promise  of  the 
light  the  gay,  romantic  air  of  the  Kremlin.  Fifty- 
eight  high  reliefs  in  marble  ornament  the  fagade, 
sixty  windows  give  bright  light  to  the  interior,  col- 
ored still  more  golden  by  the  light  of  countless 
candles.  The  magnificence  of  the  central  nave, 
entirely  of  gold  and  marble,  is  simply  overpowering, 
and  the  golden  and  silver  garments  of  the  patriarchs 
would  be  quite  unnecessary  in  giving  us  the  strong- 
est impression  of  the  enormous  riches  of  the  Rus- 
sian Church.  Together  with  the  Cathedral  of  Isaac, 
in  St.  Petersburg,  this  church  is  well  calculated  to 
compete  with  St.  Peter's,  in  Rome.     But  I  believe 

267 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

that  one  should  refrain  from  the  comparison.  The 
expression  "Roma  tatae!"  comes  from  Madame  de 
Stael,  and  was,  within  certain  bounds,  approved  by 
Moltke,  who  would  call  Moscow  a  Russian  Rome. 
But  I  must,  with  all  due  modesty,  demur.  Too 
many  undertones  vibrate  in  our  souls  at  the  word 
"Rome  "  to  allow  us  to  consider  any  sort  of  com- 
parison. But  for  a  Russian?  Who  knows  where 
the  awe  of  eternity  touches  him  deeper,  before  St. 
Peter's  or  before  this  Church  of  the  Deliverer? 

But  no,  such  a  question  may  not  be  put.  Muzhik 
and  kupetz,  farmer  and  small  merchant,  have  abso- 
lutely no  understanding  of  Rome — no  beauty  im- 
presses them,  only  the  barbaric  pomp  with  the 
costliness  of  the  materials.  But  the  cultured  Rus- 
sian feels  just  as  we  do,  and  will  not  seek  the  ele- 
ments which  make  mighty  the  word  "Rome"  any- 
where else  on  earth.  And  those  that  I  spoke  to  in 
Moscow  itself  would  have  given  a  good  deal  of  the 
peculiarity  of  their  country  for  a  breath  of  Euro- 
pean atmosphere.  Continuity  between  the  time 
of  Ivan  the  Terrible  and  the  present  does  not  exist 
for  these  nobles,  lawyers,  and  journalists  of  Moscow. 
They  endure  with  polite  but  painful  resignation 
our  delight  in  the  fantasticness  of  their  Kremlin, 
their  churches  and  cloisters.  It  does  not  flatter 
them  in  the  least  that  they  are  curiosities  for  West- 
ern people,  like  the  Baschkirs  and  Tatars,  for  in- 
stance; and  they  will  not  hear  of  their  being  con- 
demned to  continue  a  life  in  Russian  style,  apart 

268 


MOSCOW 

from  Europe.  This  extreme  enthusiasm  for  the 
autochthonous,  which  is  often  enough  only  an  anti- 
quated product  of  chance,  is,  after  all,  a  romantic 
reaction  and  nothing  else.  It  has  long  been  proved 
that  the  Gothic  which  awakened  such  exclusive 
enthusiasm  in  the  days  of  the  Germanic  Romance 
is  not  Gothic  at  all,  but  French.  And  so  Russia  has 
no  reason  at  all  for  considering  her  style,  which  is 
really  Byzantine,  all  -  sufficient.  Byzantine,  how- 
ever, is  the  contrast  to  Europe,  whose  past  has  led 
by  way  of  Rome  and  Wittenberg  to  the  Paris  of 
1789.  And  so  progressive  Moscow  seeks  freedom 
from  Byzantium.  While  I  was  pretty  deeply  im- 
bued with  things  Russian,  it  was  suggested  to  me 
to  see  a  play  in  the  "Artists'  Theatre,"  and  then  to 
say  whether  Moscow  was  really  quite  Russian  and 
Asiatic.  I  followed  this  advice  and  had  no  reason 
to  regret  it. 


XXVII 

MOSCOW — CONTINUED 

THEY  were  right  in  advising  me  to  go  to  the 
theatre  in  order  to  correct  my  impression  that 
Moscow  was  a  thorough  -  going  Russian  city.  A 
hotel,  for  instance,  proves  nothing  at  all  concerning 
the  character  of  a  town.  It  betrays  at  most  the 
year  of  its  erection,  for  to-day,  the  world  over,  build- 
ing is  done  in  the  recognized  "modern  style."* 
Even  this  or  that  elegant  street  indicates  nothing. 
There  the  imitation  of  patterns  seen  elsewhere 
plays  too  great  a  role.  But  the  theatre  which  is 
to  survive  must  adapt  itself  to  the  ruling  taste  to 
such  an  extent  that  it  can  be  considered  really  char- 
acteristic of  it. 

Now  the  "Artists'  Theatre" — or,  as  it  is  called 
because  of  the  "  secessionistic "  *  arrangement,  the 
"Decadent  Theatre" — of  Moscow  is  really  unique, 
and  by  the  preferences  of  the  theatre  public  one 
can  very  well  recognize  the  quality  and  quantity  of 
the  intelligence  of  a  city.  With  respect  to  pict- 
uresqueness  of  staging,  it  is  distinctly  the  superior 

^  Referring  to  a  modern  independent  art  movement  in 
Europe. 

270 


Moscow 

of  the  Meiniiiger  Theatre;  and,  as  far  as  scenery  and 
purity  of  style  are  concerned,  it  can  well  compare 
with  the  most  up-to-date  stages.  To  be  sure,  in- 
quiry should  not  be  made  into  the  distribution  of 
the  individual  roles;  to  some  extent  this  is  worse 
than  mediocre.  I  saw  "Julius  Caesar"  played  where 
the  conspirators  seemed  to  feel  it  necessary  to  yell 
out  their  plans  in  the  night  with  all  their  might. 
But,  in  contrast  to  this,  the  palace  of  the  emperor 
was  represented  with  a  fidelity  which  could  not  have 
been  exceeded  in  Rome  itself;  and  the  same  with 
the  Forum,  and  with  the  generals'  tent  at  Philippi. 
The  choruses  were  simply  captivating  in  their  exe- 
cution. 

But  more  interesting  to  me  than  the  play  was  the 
audience.  And  the  audience,  composed  entirely  of 
the  educated  middle  class,  knew  quite  as  well  how 
to  judge  what  was  success  and  what  failure  in  the 
performance  as  any  of  the  better  audiences  of  a 
Vienna  or  a  BerHn  theatre.  And  the  foyer,  very 
appealingly  decorated  by  the  simplest  artistic  means 
with  scenes  from  the  history  of  the  Russian  drama 
and  with  many  portraits  of  writers  and  actors,  was 
visited  and  enjoyed  by  the  audience  in  the  inter- 
mission. If  I  had  not  continually  heard  about  me 
the  sounds  of  a  strange  speech,  and  had  not  seen 
here  and  there  a  Russian  student  imiform,  it  never 
would  have  occurred  to  me  that  I  was  in  the  very 
heart  of  Russia,  so  far  as  culture  was  concerned. 

It  was  the  same,  too,  in  the  families  with  which 
271 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

I  spent  my  evenings.  If  anything,  only  the  hearti- 
ness with  which  one  is  received  is  gratefully  at  va- 
riance with  our  habits  of  careful  reserve  towards 
strangers.  But  these  hearty  and  hospitable  people 
who  at  once  lead  us  to  the  samovar  are  by  no  means 
backwoodsmen,  but  are  most  intimately  in  touch 
with  all  the  advantages  of  the  world,  and  they  have 
uncommonly  keen  powers  of  observation.  The 
visiting  European  who  might  think  himself  in  a 
position  to  act  among  them  would  quickly  become 
aware  that  the  Russian  writers,  who  astonish  us 
by  their  deep  psychological  insight,  have  not  pick- 
ed up  their  art  by  the  wayside.  It  is  hidden  in  the 
most  charming  little  formalities,  which  in  Moscow, 
in  particular,  simply  charmed  me.  Nowhere  the 
slightest  cant,  nowhere  the  slightest  false  display, 
nowhere  the  forced  enthusiasm  for  culture  which 
makes  certain  circles  of  our  great  cities  so  repul- 
sive to  us.  Naturalness  is  the  pervading  note  in 
Moscow  social  life.  But  literary  and  art  interests 
are  a  matter  of  course  in  a  society  which  is  scarcely 
paralleled  by  the  English  in  its  demand  for  reviews. 
To-day,  of  course,  every  other  interest  is  forced  to 
the  wall  by  politics.  I  have  been  present  at  gath- 
erings in  the  best  circles  of  people  of  culture  at 
which  even  the  young  had  scarcely  any  interest  save 
in  political  questions.  Even  little  declamations  with 
which  the  individual  guests  distinguished  themselves 
were  spiced  with  political  allusions,  and  were  en- 
joyed by  young  and  old  just  because  of  this  spice. 

272 


iM  O  S  C  O  W 

Yet  Moscowism  has,  in  a  sense,  a  bad  reputation. 
It  is  held  to  be  the  embodiment  of  the  Russian  re- 
action against  every  attempt  of  a  civilizing  nature 
which  emanates  from  St.  Petersburg.  Of  the  lesser 
citizens,  or  the  old-fashioned  merchants  at  times, 
this  may  even  to-day  be  true.  The  nobility  in  the 
Moscow  government,  however,  the  university,  and 
the  members  of  the  few  professions  such  as  medicine 
and  the  law,  are  much  less  circumspect  and  free- 
minded  in  their  political  criticism  than  their  con- 
temporaries in  St.  Petersburg,  for  instance.  Such 
an  opposition  organ  as  the  Riisskiya  Vyedomosti 
does  not  exist  in  St.  Petersburg.  There  is  also,  to 
be  sure,  a  sharp  contrast  between  the  intelligence 
of  Moscow  and  that  of  official  St.  Petersburg;  but 
this  contrast  is  anything  but  one  between  reaction 
and  progress.  It  is  worth  while  to  examine  it  more 
closely. 

The  present  Russian  regime  has  preserved  only 
the  despotism  of  the  enlightened  despotism  of 
Peter;  the  enlightenment  has  vanished.  The  wis- 
dom of  the  government  consists  solely  in  the  ob- 
struction of  popular  education.  The  means  to  this 
end  is  the  police,  with  their  relentless  crusade  against 
any  intelligence  of  a  trend  not  quite  orthodox  in 
its  attitude  towards  the  state  and  the  ruling  spirit 
of  the  old  regime  in  the  corruption  of  all  the  ele- 
ments of  the  higher  strata  of  society.  Demoraliza- 
tion is  encouraged,  so  to  say,  by  official  circles.  Just 
as  among  the  peasants  a  man  caught  reading  his 
i8  273 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

Bible  is  held  in  suspicion,  so  in  St.  Petersburg  a 
young  man  makes  himself  subject  to  the  displeas- 
ure of  the  authorities  if  he  does  not  take  his  part 
in  the  "diversions  of  youth."  A  lordly  contempt 
for  humanity  is  accordingly  the  prerequisite  for 
every  career  in  that  Northern  Paris.  The  pursuit 
of  fortune  has  never  a  conscience,  least  of  all  where 
it  appears  in  military  form.  There  esprit  de  corps 
and  dignity  of  position  displace  to  a  degree  of  abso- 
lute hostility  all  morality.  Elegantly  and  fashion- 
ably clothed,  one  is  always  ready  to  wager  one's 
life,  or  rather  to  throw  it  into  the  balance,  for  the 
most  valueless  stake.  One  is  irreligious  and  anti- 
moral  on  principle,  but  of  the  strictest  outward 
orthodoxy  and  monarchical  to  the  very  marrow. 

It  is  to  this  anti-moral  (anti-democratic)  super- 
ficial superciliousness  ^  that  ]\Ioscow  forms  a  con- 
trast in  each  and  every  particular.  Here  one  is 
benevolent,  democratic,  hearty,  and  intentionally 
modest  in  appearance.  Here,  too,  there  appears  to 
be  less  struggling.  The  kupetz  (small  merchant)  is 
rich  as  can  be,  but  he  lingers  in  his  little  store  with 
narrow  entrances,  and  never  has  a  thought  of  lay- 
ing aside  his  caftan,  the  ancestral  overcoat,  or  his 
high  boots,  into  which  are  stuffed  the  ends  of  his 
trousers.  But  it  is  not  exactly  this  merchant 
whom  I  should  like  to  cite  as  an  example  of  my 
point,  for  it  is  just  he  who  has  brought  upon  Mos- 

*  Ubermenschenthum.     Cf .  philosophy  of  Nietzsche 
274 


MOSCOW 

cow  the  reputation  for  being  hostile  to  progress. 
But  there  is  probably  some  connection  between 
the  resistance  which  the  nobility  of  Moscow  offers 
to  St.  Petersburg  customs  and  the  obstinate  self- 
sufficiency  of  the  merchant  with  his  old-fashioned 
views.  Just  as  this  kupetz  does  not  allow  himself 
to  be  dazzled  by  the  elegant-looking  clerk  of  the 
St.  Petersburg  merchant,  but  clings  to  his  ancestral 
ways,  so  the  Moscow  nobleman  is  not  dazzled  by 
the  elegance  of  the  dressy  St.  Petersburg  officer  of 
the  guards.  People  dress  elegantly  in  Moscow,  too — 
yes,  even  in  the  Parisian  style.  But  the  contempt- 
ible inhumanity  of  the  struggling  official  of  St. 
Petersburg  does  not  appeal  to  the  Moscowite  as  civ- 
ilizational  progress,  but  as  a  metropolitan  degen- 
eracy to  be  despised.  And  so  among  the  bright  peo- 
ple of  j\Ioscow  patriarchal  heartiness  is  preserved. 
It  was  not  a  matter  of  pure  chance  that  Leo  Tolstoi 
spent  so  many  winters  in  Moscow  society.  In  St. 
Petersburg  he  would  not  have  stayed. 

The  most  beautiful  creation  of  this  conscious  de- 
votion to  Moscow  is  the  donation  of  a  simple  mer- 
chant, the  possession  of  which  any  city  of  the  world 
might  envy — the  Tretyakov  Gallery,  the  largest 
and  most  valuable  private  collection  that  exists 
anywhere.  A  knowledge  of  it  is  absolutely  indis- 
pensable to  the  historian  of  modem  Russian  paint- 
ing. The  Alexander  Museum  of  St.  Petersburg  has 
isolated  magnificent  pieces  of  Ryepin,  Aiwasowsky, 

275 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

and  the  most  beautiful  sculptures  of  Antokolski; 
but  it  cannot  be  compared  with  the  two  thousand 
pieces  of  the  Tretyakov  Gallery.  The  founder  gave, 
besides  this  invaluable  collection,  a  building  for  it, 
and  a  fund,  from  the  interest  of  which,  even  after 
his  death,  the  collection  might  be  augmented.  Ad- 
mission, of  course,  is  free  to  all;  even  fees  for  coat 
checks  may  not  be  collected  of  its  visitors. 

In  this  gallery  one  realizes  for  the  first  time  that 
Russian  painting  is  about  at  par  with  Russian 
literature,  that  it  also  has  its  Tolstois,  Turgenyevs, 
and  Dostoyevskys.  Above  all,  there  is  Ilya  Ryepin 
with  a  whole  collection  of  portraits  and  large  genre 
pictures.  I  have  tried  to  sketch  some  of  those 
works  of  art  elsewhere  in  a  special  article  devoted  to 
this  greatest  of  Russian  artists,  and  will  not  repeat 
myself  here.  Let  me  only  mention  the  portraits 
of  Leo  Tolstoi,  copies  of  which  can  now  be  found  in 
the  West.  The  poet  is  here  depicted  once  behind 
the  plough  and  again  barefoot  in  his  garden,  his 
hands  in  his  belt,  his  head  thoughtfully  sunk  upon 
his  breast.  It  is  the  best  picture  of  Tolstoi  that 
exists.  Once,  while  I  was  walking  up  and  down 
in  conversation  with  the  poet  in  his  room  at  Yas- 
naya  Polyana,  I  had  to  bite  my  tongue  in  order  to 
suppress  the  remark,  "Now  you  look  as  if  you  had 
been  cut  from  the  canvas  of  Ryepin."  Ryepin  may 
be  compared  as  a  portrait-painter  with  the  very  fore- 
most artists  of  all  times.  The  strength  of  his  char- 
acters is  simply  unequalled. 

276 


iM  O  S  C  O  W 

But  the  Russians  appear  to  me  particularly  great 
in  the  field  of  realistic  genre  and  of  landscape  paint- 
ing, just  as  in  their  literature,  which  never  leaves 
the  firm  ground  of  observation;  and  just  for  that 
reason  it  is  perfectly  unique  in  the  catching  of 
every  little  event,  of  every  feeling  and  atmosphere 
peculiar  to  the  landscape.  Among  the  painters  of 
the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  who  al- 
ready have  worked  under  Ryepin's  influence,  there 
is  no  longer  any  insidiousness  of  coloring.  Every- 
thing is  seen  clearly  and  strongly  reproduced.  No 
Diisseldorferie  and  no  anecdote  painting.  Of  course, 
they  did  not  shun  a  subject  useful  in  itself,  and 
they  by  no  means  avoid  a  slight  political  tendency. 
But  they  are  no  less  artists  because  they  disdain 
to  beg  of  the  fanatics  of  "art  for  art's  sake"  the 
right  to  the  name  of  artists  by  an  exclusion  of  all 
but  purely  neutral  subjects.  On  the  contrary,  in 
the  naivete  in  which  they  show  themselves  in  their 
art  as  human  beings  of  their  time,  they  let  it  be 
known  that  the  problem  "art  for  art's  sake"  is 
for  them  without  any  meaning,  since  with  them  it 
is  an  axiom  that  they  desire  to  influence  only 
through  the  medium  of  their  art;  and  yet  they  judge 
every  work  of  art  first  of  all  in  accordance  with  its 
artistic  qualities.  Only  they  do  not  allow  them- 
selves by  an  apparently  neutral,  but  in  reality  a 
reactionary,  doctrine  to  be  hindered  from  the  ex- 
pression of  their  sympathy  for  everything  liberal, 
free,  and  human. 

277 


THE    LAND    OP    RIDDLES 

There  is,  for  instance,  a  picture  there  by  Doro- 
schenko  which  bears  the  harmless  title  "Every- 
where is  life."  It  might,  yes,  it  ought  really  to  hang 
in  the  gallery  of  the  Parisian,  for  it  is  a  work  of 
Christian  spirit.  Convicts  are  feeding  doves  from  the 
railroad  car  which  is  carrying  them  into  exile.  As 
a  painting  it  is  excellent.  The  light  falls  full  upon 
the  whirring  pigeons  in  the  foreground  and  upon 
the  convicts  pressing  their  faces  against  the  iron 
bars  of  the  window  of  the  car.  One  sees  through 
the  window,  and  notices  on  the  far  side  of  the  car 
another  barred  window  at  which  a  man  is  standing 
and  looking  out.  The  interior  of  the  car  is  almost 
dark.  The  group  of  convicts  in  the  foreground 
consists  of  a  young  man,  evidently  the  guilty  one, 
and  his  wife,  who  is  following  him  into  exile 
with  their  year-old  child  on  her  bosom.  For  the 
sake  of  the  child,  and  to  please  him,  they  are  feed- 
ing the  doves.  A  bearded  old  man  looks  on  pleased, 
and  a  dark-bearded  younger  man,  too,  whom  one 
might  sooner  believe  guilty  of  some  slight  misdeed. 
But  upon  the  face  of  all  these  exiles  lies  so  child- 
like a  brightness,  so  evident  a  sympathetic  pleasure 
in  the  joy  of  the  child,  that  one  rather  doubts  their 
guilt  than  the  fact  that  they  are  still  capable  of  good- 
natured  human  feelings.  And  yet  this  picture  of 
Christian  pity  has  not  been  bought  for  the  Parisian. 
For  it  is  well  understood,  in  spite  of  its  harmless  title, 
what  its  meaning  is.  "Everywhere  is  life"  should 
read,  "Everywhere  is  pity,  everywhere  humanity, 

278 


MOSCOW 

except  among  the  police,  in  the  state,  and  in  an 
autocracy."  What  guilt  can  these  good  little  folk 
have  committed — looking  there  so  kindly  at  a  child 
that  cooingly  feeds  the  doves — that  they  should 
be  torn  from  their  native  hearth  and  be  sent  to  the 
icy  deserts  of  Siberia  ?  The  yoimg  father — perhaps 
he  went  among  the  people  teaching  that  a  farmer 
was  a  man  as  well  as  the  policeman  (pristav) .  And 
one  thinks  with  a  shudder  of  the  two  thousand 
poHtical  convicts  of  the  year  before  that  were  sent 
into  the  department  of  Irkutsk.   .  .  . 

Such  is  the  Russian  genre.  It  is  full  of  references, 
but  is  never  a  mere  illustration  of  some  tendency  or 
other.  The  painter  does  not  make  the  solution  of 
his  problem  easy,  and  does  not  speculate  on  the  co- 
operative comprehension  of  the  observer,  who  is 
satisfied  if  he  finds  his  thoughts  indicated.  No, 
such  a  Russian  genre  picture  is  perfect  in  the  char- 
acteristic of  the  heads,  in  perspective,  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  light  and  atmosphere.  The  purely  pict- 
uresque, to  be  sure,  is  more  evident  in  the  land- 
scape. And  in  this  the  Russians  do  astonishing 
work.  They  have  the  eye  of  the  child  of  nature  for 
the  peculiarities  of  the  landscape — an  eye  which  we 
in  the  West  must  train  again.  What  west  Euro- 
pean writer  could  have  been  in  a  position  to  write 
nature  studies  like  Leo  Tolstoi's  Cossacks,  or  hke 
the  "Hay  Harvest"  from  Anna  Karenina?  And 
one  might  also  ask.  What  west  European  has  so 
studied  the  forest  like  Schischkin,  the  sea  like  Ai- 

270 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

wasowsky,  the  river  and  the  wind  like  Levi  tan? 
There  is  a  picture  of  Schischkin's  in  the  Tretyakov 
Gallery,  "Morning  in  the  Pine  Forest."  A  family 
of  bears  busy  themselves  about  an  enormous  fallen, 
splintered  pine.  Everything  is  alive;  the  comical 
little  brown  fellows  are  quite  as  true  to  nature  as  the 
moss  in  the  foreground  and  the  veil  of  mist  before 
the  trees  in  the  background. 

Strange  to  say,  Schischkin  is  stronger  in  his 
etchings  than  in  his  oil-paintings,  the  colors  of  which 
are  always  a  little  too  dry.  But  his  etchings,  which 
I  could  enjoy  in  their  first  prints,  thanks  to  the 
goodness  of  the  senator  Reutem  in  St.  Petersburg, 
are  real  treasures  in  sentiment  and  character.  He 
is,  if  one  may  express  it  so,  the  psychologist  of  the 
trees.  A  tree  on  the  dunes  is  a  whole  tragedy  from 
the  lives  of  the  pines. 

Aiwasowsky,  the  virtuoso  of  the  troubled  sea,  is 
more  effective  than  the  quiet  Schischkin.  His 
storms  at  sea,  with  their  transparent  waves,  actually 
drive  terror  into  the  onlooker.  The  Black  Sea  has 
been  the  favorite  ob j  ect  of  his  pictures .  There  all  the 
furies  seem  to  be  let  loose  in  order  to  frighten  fisher 
and  sailor.  And  these  floods  shine  and  shimmer ;  they 
are  as  if  covered  with  a  transparent  light.  Levitan, 
again,  has  understood  the  charm  of  the  calm  surface 
of  a  small  body  of  water  as  no  one  else.  His  brush 
is  dipped  in  feeHng.  The  beauty  of  his  pictures 
cannot  be  reproduced  in  words.  He  seems  to 
have  a  special  sense-organ  for  the  shades  of  the 

280 


MOSCOW 

atmosphere.  It  is  a  pity  that  he  died  so  very 
young. 

The  collection  of  Vereschtschagin  has  now  ob- 
tained a  particularly  enhanced  value  because  of  the 
awful  death  of  the  master.  The  Tretyakov  Gallery 
has,  with  the  exception  of  the  Napoleonic  pictures 
which  ornament  the  Alexander  Museum,  almost  the 
whole  life-work  of  the  artist.  His  work  has  only 
recently  been  universally  appreciated.  The  power 
of  the  versatile  man  was  astonishing;  his  philan- 
thropic turn  of  mind  and  his  epigrammatic  spirit 
give  spice  to  his  pictures;  but  of  him,  first  of  all, 
perhaps,  it  might  be  said  that  he  used  his  art  for 
purposes  foreign  to  it  in  spite  of  all  artistic  treat- 
ment. For  it  was  seldom  the  artistic  problem 
that  charmed  him.  Only  his  Oriental  color  stud- 
ies are  to  a  certain  extent  free  from  ulterior  pur- 
poses. 

It  is  difficult  to  choose  from  this  abundance  of 
good  masters,  and  particularly  to  name  those  whom 
one  should  know  above  the  others.  Pictures  can- 
not easily  be  made  so  accessible  as  books,  and  the 
contents  of  a  picture  does  not  permit  of  being  told 
at  all.  And  so  I  content  myself  with  mentioning 
again  the  names  of  Ryepin,  Schischkin,  Levi  tan, 
and  Aiwasowsky,  and  then  those  of  the  portrait- 
painter  Kramskoi,  the  landscape-painter  Gay,  and 
the  master  of  genre  painting,  Makowski.  And  to 
any  one  whose  path  ever  leads  him  to  Moscow,  a 
visit  to  the  Tretyakov  Gallery  is  most  urgently  rec- 

281 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

ommended.  A  people  which  produces  such  artists 
in  every  field  as  the  Russian  has  not  only  the  right 
to  the  strongest  self -consciousness,  and  to  the  gen- 
eral sympathy  of  people  of  culture,  but,  above  all, 
it  has  the  right  to  be  respected  by  its  rulers  and 
not  to  be  handled  like  a  horde  of  slaves. 

But,  in  spite  of  it  all,  light  has  not  dawned  upon 
those  in  power.  You  may  resolve  as  often  as  you 
will  in  Russia  not  to  bother,  for  the  space  of  a  day, 
with  the  everlasting  police,  but,  in  spite  of  all,  you 
will  be  continually  coming  into  contact  with  them. 
Our  path  from  the  Tretyakov  Gallery  to  the  hotel 
leads  past  a  long,  barrack-like  building.  We  ask 
our  companion  its  object.  He  at  once  tells  us 
something  of  interest.  First,  the  giant  building  is 
the  manege,  the  drill-room  for  the  soldiers  in  bad 
weather.  Its  arched  roof  lies  upon  the  walls  without 
any  interior  support.  The  weight  of  the  roof  is  so 
great  that  already  the  walls  in  many  places  have 
sagged  and  have  had  to  be  reinforced.  Architects 
had  suggested  alterations,  which,  however,  would 
have  cost  countless  thousands.  Such  an  expendi- 
ture could  not  be  tolerated,  and  in  the  mean  time  the 
evil  increased.  Already  they  were  about  to  take  a 
costly  bite  from  the  sour  apple,  when  a  small  peas- 
ant appeared  and  promised  for  a  hundred  rubles  to 
arrange  matters  in  a  single  night.  He  simply  bored, 
in  the  top  of  the  leaden  roof,  a  hole,  through  which 
the  air  could  circulate,  and  immediately  the  roof 
lay  like  a  feather  upon  the  walls  without  endanger- 

282 


MOSCOW 

ing  them  any  longer  by  its  weight.  Such  is  the 
story  of  the  Moskvich.  Whether  or  not  it  is  true, 
or  is  held  to  be  so  by  people  who  know  about  such 
things,  I  do  not  venture  to  judge.  But  it  seemed 
to  me  interesting  enough  to  be  told.  But  what 
interested  me  still  more  was  the  subsidiary  use  to 
which  the  building  is  put.  It  is  near  the  university. 
Now  if  a  student  disorder  arises,  they  manage  to 
surround  the  students  by  Cossacks  and  drive  them 
into  this  manege,  where  they  are  held  behind  lock 
and  key,  by  thousands,  until  the  worshipful  offi- 
cials have  sought  out  those  which  may  most  to  their 
purpose  be  called  revolutionists.  Chance  wills  that 
generally  the  Jews  are  held,  since  Herr  von  Plehve 
needs  statistical  proof  for  his  theory  of  a  purely 
Jewish  opposition. 

His  accusations  may  have  served  him  among 
those  above  him,  but  not  among  those  below  him. 
I  found  that  in  Moscow  itself  dealings  between  the 
intelligent  Christians  and  the  few  Jews  who  are 
allowed  upon  the  street  were  most  hearty.  The 
political  bitterness,  the  desperate  fight  against  the 
regime,  unites  them  all;  after  the  Russian  custom 
they  exchange,  embrace,  and  kiss  at  every  meeting, 
Jew  or  Christian,  provided  they  only  be  friends. 
It  was  for  me,  a  Westerner,  an  interesting  and 
mortifying  sight  to  see  how  young  Russian  nobles 
with  world-famous  names  kissed  on  the  mouth 
and  cheek  in  welcome  and  in  farewell  their  Jewish 
friends.     With  this  impression  I  took  my  departure 

283 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

from  Moscow.  Terrible  as  the  political  pressure 
may  be,  the  people  have  preserved  one  thing  in 
this  prison — their  humanity.  And  thus  they  will 
one  day  attain  happiness,  just  as  they  are  in  many 
things  already  happier  than  we,  because  they  have 
remained  human.  For  a  well-known  authoress, 
who  begged  me  to  write  a  few  words  in  her  album, 
I  wrote  the  words  which  I  shall  here  repeat,  because 
they  contain  the  sum  of  my  Russian  impressions, 
particularly  after  the  pleasing  days  in  Moscow: 
"Russia  is  a  sack,  but  it  is  inhabited  by  human 
beings.  The  West  is  free,  but  it  knows  almost  none 
but  business-men.  I  often  almost  believe  that  we 
ought  to  envy  them.  ..." 


XXVIII 

A   VISIT   TO    TOLSTOI 

FROM  Moscow  an  accommodation  train  goes  in 
one  night  to  Tula,  capital  of  the  government 
of  the  same  name.  The  infallible  Baedeker  ad- 
vises the  traveller  to  leave  the  train  there,  because 
it  is  hard  to  get  a  team  at  the  next  station,  Kozlovka, 
though  Kozlovka  is  nearer  to  Yasnaya  Polyana, 
the  estate  of  the  poet,  than  is  Tula.  I  follow  my 
Baedeker  blindly,  because  I  have  always  had  to  re- 
pent when  I  departed  from  its  advice.  The  Ger- 
man Baedeker  deserves  the  highest  credit  for  tak- 
ing the  trouble  to  give  this  information  to  the  few 
travellers  that  make  the  pilgrimage  to  Leo  Tolstoi. 
For  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Tolstoi  is  overrun. 
His  family  guard  his  retirement,  and  do  not  grant 
admittance  to  every  one.  I  was,  in  fact,  the  only 
stranger  who  found  his  way  there  during  the  entire 
week.  It  was,  indeed,  a  very  special  introduction 
which  opened  the  gates  to  me. 

The  train  reaches  Tula  at  eight  in  the  morning. 
Thoughtful  friends  had  given  me  a  card  in  Russian 
to  the  station-master  to  help  me  to  find  a  driver 
who  knew  the  way.     The  station-master  could  not, 

285 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

however,  decipher  the  card,  and  did  not  understand 
my  French.  A  colonel  of  Cossacks  then  helped  me 
out.  He  had  already  been  talking  with  the  official, 
and  now  asked  me  if  I  could  not  speak  German  a 
little.  When  I  assented  he  immediately  played  the 
interpreter.  In  a  few  minutes  a  muzhik  was  found 
who,  with  his  small  sleigh  and  shaggy,  big-boned 
pony,  had  made  the  journey  many  times.  The 
amiable  Cossack  then  accepted  an  invitation  to 
breakfast  in  the  clean  station,  and  we  chatted  for 
a  while  over  our  tea.  He  was  a  tall,  fair-haired 
man,  with  kindly  blue  eyes  and  the  short  Slavonic 
nose.  His  conversation,  however,  emphatically  con- 
tradicted his  appearance.  He  was  on  his  way  to 
the  Ural,  where  he  was  to  meet  his  regiment,  and 
talked  about  the  bayonets  of  his  Cossacks  being 
bent  because  the  men  spit  the  "Kakamakis"  (Jap- 
anese) and  threw  them  over  their  shoulders.  He 
was  delighted  that  I  was  a  German,  for  the  Russians 
think  the  Germans  very  good  fellows  at  present. 
Only  the  English  are  a  bad  lot — "Jew  Englishmen!" 
Leo  Tolstoi,  he  said,  was  a  man  of  great  genius,  but 
it  wasn't  nice  that  he  was  an  atheist.  I  interrupted 
him,  laughing: 

"I  don't  wish  to  be  personal,  colonel,  but  Leo 
Tolstoi  is  a  much  better  Christian  than  you." 

"How's  that?" 

I  explained  to  him  that  Tolstoi  wishes  to  re- 
establish the  primitive  Christianity  and  is  the  enemy 
only  of  the  church  and  of  the  priests.     The  good 

286 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

fellow  was  immediately  satisfied.  If  it  were  noth- 
ing worse  than  that — no  Russian  could  endure  the 
priests.  They  were  all  rascals.  The  missionaries 
in  China  had  turned  all  their  girls'  schools  into 
harems.  Only  the  dissenting  priests  led  a  moral 
life. 

It  was  the  talk  of  a  big,  thoroughly  lovable  child, 
in  whom  even  the  thirst  for  fighting  was  not  un- 
becoming. Who  knows  whether  the  bullets  of  the 
"Kakamakis"  have  not  already  found  him  out!  I 
spoke  later  to  the  good  Tolstoi  of  this  conversation. 
He  also  is  persuaded  that  only  right  teaching  is 
needed  to  turn  these  essentially  good-hearted  peo- 
ple from  the  business  of  murder.  At  present  war  is 
merely  a  hunting  adventure  for  them.  They  form 
no  conception  of  the  sufferings  of  the  defeated. 

Deeply  buried  in  furs  and  robes,  we  glided  at  last 
over  the  glittering  snow.  The  city  of  Tula,  which 
would  have  been  interesting  at  another  time  on  ac- 
count of  its  metal  industry,  was  a  matter  of  indif- 
ference at  the  moment.  We  quitted  it  on  the  left 
and  struck  at  once  into  the  road  to  Yasnaya  Polyana. 
The  distance  before  us  was  almost  fifteen  versts 
(ten  miles) ;  our  pony  had,  therefore,  to  make  good 
time  if  it  was  to  bring  us,  over  all  the  hills  covered 
with  soft  snow,  to  our  destination  before  noon.  A 
Russian  horse,  however,  can  stand  a  good  deal,  so 
I  did  not  need  to  interrupt  by  inopportune  con- 
sideration for  animals  the  thoughts  which  surged 

287 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

through  my  brain  more  and  more  as  we  came  near 
the  end  of  the  journey.  A  meeting  with  Tolstoi  is 
such  an  incomparable  privilege  for  me  —  will  fate 
permit  me  thoroughly  to  enjoy  the  moments  ?  And 
if  he  is  not  the  man  I  expect  to  find,  if  one  of  the 
great  again  unmasks  before  me  as  a  poseur — who 
appears  great  and  admirable  only  at  a  distance — 
how  many  illusions  have  I  still  to  lose  ?  May  not 
his  apostleship  be  merely  a  self  -  suggested  idea 
obstinately  clung  to?  Is  not  his  tardy  religious 
bent,  perhaps,  mere  hypochondria,  fear  of  the  next 
world,  preparation  for  death?  A  look  with  his 
eyes  must  show  me.  I  must  learn  from  the  sound 
of  his  voice  whether  my  inner  ear  deceives  me 
when  I  hear  the  ring  of  sincerity  in  the  primeval 
force  of  his  diction.  I  know  I  cannot  deceive  my- 
self. If  the  concept  I  have  formed  of  him  is  cor- 
rected even  in  the  least  point  by  the  reality,  that 
is  the  end  of  my  secret  worship. 

We  turned  in  at  last  between  two  stone  pillars 
at  the  park  of  Yasnaya  Polyana.  Below,  beside 
the  frozen  pond,  we  saw  a  youthful  figure  advanc- 
ing with  the  light  step  of  an  officer  surrounded  by 
a  pack  of  baying  and  leaping  dogs.  Yet,  if  my 
eyes  did  not  deceive  me,  a  gray  beard  flowed  over 
the  breast  of  this  slender,  boyish  figure.  He  stop- 
ped, shaded  his  eyes  with  his  hand,  and  looked 
towards  our  sleigh.  I  Then  he  turned  back.  It 
was  he. 

We  had  hardly  reached  the  house  and  been 
288 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

unwrapped  from  our  furs  and  overshoes  by  the 
servants,  when  the  door  of  the  low  vestibule  opened, 
and  there,  in  muzhik  smock  and  fur,  high  boots  and 
tall  fur  cap,  as  we  knew  him  from  a  thousand  pict- 
ures, Leo  Tolstoi  stood  before  us  and  held  out  a 
friendly  hand. 

While  he,  motioning  away  the  servants,  pulled  ofif 
his  knee-high  felt  overshoes,  I  had  opportunity  to 
look  at  him.  That  is  to  say,  my  eyes  at  first  were 
held  by  the  head  alone,  with  its  softly  curling  gray 
hair,  which  flows,  parted,  to  the  neck.  Thick,  bushy, 
gray  brows  shade  the  deep-set,  blue  eyes  and  sharp- 
ly define  an  angular,  self  -  willed  forehead.  The 
nose  is  strong,  slender  above,  broad  and  finely 
modelled  in  the  nostrils.  The  long,  gray  mustache 
completely  covers  the  mobile  mouth.  A  waving 
white  beard,  parted  in  the  middle,  flows  from  the 
hoary  cheeks  to  the  shoulders.  The  head  is  not 
broad — rather,  it  might  be  called  narrow — wholly 
unslavonic,  and  is  well  poised.  The  broad,  strongly 
built  shoulders  have  a  mihtary  erectness.  The 
powerful  body  is  set  on  slender  hips.  A  narrow 
foot  is  hidden  in  the  high  Russian  boot  and  moves 
elastically.  The  step  and  carriage  are  youthful. 
An  irony  of  fate  will  have  it  that  the  bitterest  foe 
of  militarism  betrays  in  his  whole  appearance  the 
former  officer.  The  man  in  the  peasant's  dress  is 
in  every  movement  the  grand  seigneur. 

We  were  still  standing  in  the  vestibule,  which 
serves  also  as  a  cloak-room.  The  count  thrust  both 
19  289 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

hands  in  his  belt — well-shaped,  powerful  hands — 
and  asked  in  faultless  German  my  plan  for  the  day. 
I  felt  the  gentle  eyes  on  my  face  as  he  spoke.  The 
look  is  beaming  and  kindly.  One  is  not  pierced, 
only  illuminated.  Yet  one  feels  distinctly  that 
nothing  is  hidden  from  those  quiet,  kindly  eyes.  I 
answered  that  I  should  return  to  Moscow  at  mid- 
night, and  until  then  would  under  no  consideration 
disturb  him  in  his  work.  He  told  me,  thereupon,  to 
send  back  my  sleigh,  since  he  would  have  us  driven 
at  night  to  the  station  in  his  own.  He  would  have 
no  refusal  to  our  eating  breakfast  before  we  with- 
drew to  the  room  assigned  us.  The  countess,  he 
said,  was  in  Moscow  at  the  time,  but  the  youngest 
daughter  would  soon  return  from  the  village  school, 
where  she  taught.  He  would  leave  her  to  entertain 
us  until  luncheon.  I  should  say  here  that  my  wife 
accompanied  me  on  this  wintry  journey,  as  on  the 
whole  journey  of  investigation.  Tolstoi  himself 
would  keep  to  his  usual  programme — would  look 
over  his  mail,  write  a  promised  article,  rest  a  little 
in  the  afternoon,  then  ride,  and  from  dinner — that 
is,  from  six  o'clock — until  midnight  would  be  at  my 
disposal.  Then  he  led  us  to  a  large  room  on  the 
first  floor.  Here  stood  a  long  table,  which  remains 
spread  all  day.  Tea  and  eggs  were  brought.  Be- 
fore withdrawing,  however,  the  count  sat  with  us 
awhile,  asked  with  the  tact  of  a  man  of  the  world 
about  personal  matters — the  number  of  our  chil- 
dren and  how  they  were  cared  for  in  our  absence, 

290 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

and  the  friends  in  Moscow  who  had  introduced  us 
to  him — all  in  a  low,  musical  voice  which  banished 
all  embarrassment.  Then  he  rose  with  a  slight 
bow  and  walked  to  his  room.  At  the  door,  how- 
ever, he  turned  and  came  back  to  ask  whether  we 
brought  any  news  of  the  war.  It  was  just  in  the 
pause  after  the  first  catastrophe  at  Port  Arthur.  We 
were  obliged,  therefore,  to  say  no.  Then  the  ser- 
vant appeared  and  led  us  back  to  the  ground  floor, 
where  we  were  shown  into  two  connecting  rooms. 
We  had  time  to  record  our  first  impressions. 

The  worst  was  over.  There  was  no  fear  of  dis- 
illusion. That  was  gone  like  a  cloud  of  smoke.  The 
infinite  kindliness  of  his  eyes,  the  gentleness  of  his 
hand-shake,  the  beauty  of  the  silvery  head  exert 
a  fascination.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  his  com- 
plete sincerity.  The  mind  is  filled  with  an  entirely 
new  feeling,  that  of  astonishment  at  the  unpre- 
tentious peacefulness  of  this  fighter,  who,  from  the 
stern  seriousness  of  his  latest  writings,  and  from  his 
current  portraits,  might  be  taken  for  a  philosophiz- 
ing pessimist.  Whatever  titanic  thoughts  may 
work  in  this  head,  which  looks  like  one  of  Michael 
Angelo's,  all  that  is  visible  is  a  glow  of  serene  and 
holy  peace,  which  gently  relaxes  the  tension  of  our 
own  souls  also.  The  ever-disturbing  thought  that 
we  might  find  in  the  count  a  recluse  and  an  eccentric 
— if  one  may  use  such  profane  expressions  in  con- 
nection with  this  illustrious  man — a  fanatic  on  the 
subject  of  woollen  underclothing  and  a  return  to 

291 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

nature  in  foods,  was  set  at  rest  from  the  first  mo- 
ment of  meeting.  The  count  is  no  eccentric,  but 
a  polished  man  in  spite  of  the  convenient  dress 
of  the  muzhik.  The  peasant  dress  is  simply  the 
one  that  has  proved  best  for  his  intercourse  with 
the  country  people.  Moreover,  there  is  a  notice- 
able difference  between  the  well  -  cut  and  well- 
fitting  coat  of  Tolstoi  and  that  of  the  ragged 
peasant.  I  must  confess  that  the  setting  at  rest 
of  even  this  little  misgiving  was  of  value  to  me. 
For,  as  people  are  in  this  world,  they  will  not  take 
even  a  saint  seriously  if  he  wraps  himself  in  external 
eccentricities— if  he  has  not  good  taste.  Leo  Tol- 
stoi decidedly  has  good  taste.  Only  he  is  great 
enough  and  strong  enough  not  to  submit  to  the 
tyranny  of  fashion.  I  should  like,  however,  to  see 
the  man  who  felt  the  least  suggestion  of  worldly 
superiority  in  talking  with  him.  Truly  the  count 
is  not  the  man  whom  any  fop  in  the  consciousness 
of  his  English  tailor  would  presume  to  patronize. 
Perhaps,  unconsciously  to  himself,  and  certainly 
against  his  will,  it  is  unmistakably  to  be  seen  in  him 
that  he  once  had  the  idea  of  being  comme  il  faut, 
as  he  tells  in  his  Childhood  mid  Youth.  However 
insignificant  this  circumstance  may  be  in  the  world- 
wide fame  of  Leo  Tolstoi,  it  must  be  mentioned, 
simply  because  the  legend  of  the  muzhik's  smock 
may  too  easily  create  an  entirely  false  impression 
of  the  personality  of  the  poet.  In  spite  of  all  the 
kindly  simplicity  of  his  bearing,  no  one  can  for  a 

292 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

moment  escape  the  impression  that  here  speaks  a 
distinguished  man  in  every  sense  of  the  term. 

The  rooms  allotted  to  us  were  parts  of  his  large 
library.  On  a  shelf  I  found  the  carefully  kept 
catalogue  of  the  fourteen  cases,  with  each  book  on 
a  separate  slip.  A  glance  through  one  of  the  glass 
doors  showed  me  English,  French,  German,  and  Rus- 
sian books ;  my  eye  even  fell  on  a  Danish  grammar. 
There  stood  side  by  side  a  work  on  Leonardo  da 
Vinci,  Bjornson's  Uber  unsere  Kraft,  Marcel  Pre- 
vost's  Vierges  Fortes,  Jules  Verne's  Journey  to  the 
Centre  of  the  Earth,  Spinoza,  Renan,  a  book  of  travel 
by  Vambery,  a  book  of  entomology,  Buffon — the 
most  different  .sorts  of  books,  and  obviously  much 
used.  The  count  is  able  to  accomplish  such  an 
achievement  in  reading  only  by  a  careful  division 
of  the  day,  not  to  say  a  military  exactness  and 
thoroughness,  pushed  perhaps  to  pedantry,  in  all 
his  doings.  Later,  in  speaking  with  me,  he  used 
the  familiar  phrase,  "Genius  is  eternal  patience." 
He  has  this  patience.  It  is  well  known  how  he 
works — that  he  has  his  first  conception  copied  on  the 
type-writer,  then  corrected,  then  copied  again,  and 
so  on  until  the  work  satisfies  him.  On  the  day  of 
my  visit  this  man  of  seventy-five  took  an  early 
morning  walk  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  looked  over  his 
large  mail,  wrote  an  English  article  upon  the  war, 
rode  two  full  hours  in  the  afternoon  with  the  ther- 
mometer at  six,  worked  again,  and  remained  in 
almost  uninterrupted  conversation  with  iis  from  six 

293 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

o'clock  until  midnight.  He  spoke  German  most  of 
the  time,  rarely  French.  At  the  end  of  the  ex- 
ceedingly intense  conversation  he  was  just  as  youth- 
fully elastic  as  at  the  beginning;  indeed,  in  the  late 
night  hours  his  eyes  first  began  to  glow  with  a  light 
of  inspiration  which  no  one  who  has  once  seen  it 
can  ever  forget.  In  addition  to  the  great  thorough- 
ness of  all  his  action  and  the  strict  division  of  the 
day,  a  vital  energy  which  must  be  called  truly 
phenomenal  is  also  most  essentially  characteristic 
of  his  personality.  Leo  Tolstoi  is  a  giant  in  psy- 
chical and  intellectual  strength,  as  he  must  once 
have  been  in  physical  strength  also.  It  is  not 
purely  accidental  that  the  two  heroes  in  whom  he 
has  pictured  himself  most  unmistakably — Peter,  in 
War  and  Peace,  and  Levin,  in  Anna  Karenina — are 
large,  strong  men  of  unusual  productive  capacity. 


XXIX 

A   VISIT   TO    TOLSTOI — CONTINUED 

IT  was  not  yet  noon  when  the  door  opened  and  a 
supple,  laughing  creature  burst  in  like  a  whirl- 
wind and  ran  up  the  stairs,  filling  the  house  with 
music.  Soon  afterwards  the  servant  summoned  us 
to  luncheon.  When  we  went  up-stairs  the  laugh- 
ing singer  with  the  voice  like  a  silver  bell  met  us  at 
the  door  of  the  dining-room.  It  was  the  Countess 
Alexandra  Lvovna,  or,  as  she  is  known  in  the  house, 
Sasha,  a  blooming,  beautiful  blonde,  with  her  fa- 
ther's brows  above  great,  wide-open,  blue  eyes.  The 
Countess  Sasha  does  not  speak  German.  She  did 
the  honors  of  the  luncheon  in  the  absence  of  her 
father,  who  did  not  appear,  since  it  is  his  custom 
not  to  interrupt  his  work  at  this  time.  Therefore 
another  inmate  of  the  house  was  present,  a  Circassian, 
a  talented  artist  who  had  nursed  the  count  in  the 
Crimea  and  since  then  has  remained  in  the  family. 
She  makes  herself  useful  now  by  filing  the  count's 
correspondence.  She  speaks  only  Russian,  how- 
ever, so  that  she  could  take  no  part  in  the  conver- 
sation. 

Naturally,  we  spoke  only  of  the  countess's  father. 
295 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

His  health  the  preceding  year  had  been  very  weak 
from  attacks  of  malaria  and  typhus,  and  even  now 
the  family  were  constantly  anxious  about  him.  For 
he  does  not  spare  himself  in  the  least,  and  will 
not  take  his  advanced  years  into  consideration  at 
all.  For  twenty  years  he  has  not  eaten  a  morsel  of 
meat.  What  appeared  to  be  cutlets,  which  I  saw 
him  eat  later,  were  made  of  baked  rice.  I  cau- 
tiously led  the  conversation  to  a  former  inmate  of 
the  house,  who,  in  an  indiscreet  book  upon  the 
family  of  the  count,  made  the  assertion  that  the 
count  was  only  nominally  a  vegetarian,  but  occa- 
sionally made  up  for  his  abstinence  by  secretly  eat- 
ing tender  beefsteaks.  It  would  mean  nothing  in 
and  of  itself  if  a  habitual  meat-eater,  after  going 
over  to  vegetarianism  in  a  general  way,  should  now 
and  then  indulge  the  craving  for  meat.  The  se- 
crecy of  the  indulgence,  however,  would  be  a  piece  of 
that  hypocrisy  of  which  the  count  is  accused  by 
his  most  obstinate  enemies.  We  received  from  the 
countess,  however,  an  explanation  of  the  circum- 
stances in  regard  to  the  German  woman's  book. 
Since  the  Tolstoi  family,  however,  have  long  since 
pardoned  the  repentant  authoress,  it  would  be  in- 
delicate of  me  to  publish  the  ancient  history.  Leo 
Tolstoi  is  no  hypocrite.  He  does  not  even  consider 
it  a  duty  to  be  a  vegetarian.  All  the  rest  of  his 
family,  including  the  Countess  Sasha,  eat  meat. 
Tolstoi  finds,  however,  that  a  vegetable  diet  agrees 
with  him,  and  he  therefore  adheres  to  it  without 

296 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

wishing  to  convert  anybody  else  to  the  same  be- 
lief, as  vegetarians  are  accustomed  to  do.  The 
count,  in  general,  does  not  try  to  make  any  converts, 
brings  no  pressure  to  bear  on  any  one.  Everybody 
may  live  exactly  as  he  chooses,  even  in  the  bosom 
of  the  count's  family.  The  Countess  Sasha  said, 
touchingly,  "The  only  thing  we  can  learn  from  him 
is  whether  a  thing  pleases  him  or  not.  That  is 
enough,  however,  at  least  for  me." 

Nothing  could  be  more  touching  than  the  rela- 
tions between  this  last  child  remaining  at  home  and 
her  father.  She  hangs  on  his  words.  Every  wish  of 
his,  spoken  half  aloud,  is  quickly  and  silently  ful- 
filled by  her.  Since  the  marriage  of  the  Countess 
Tatyana  she  has  been  his  secretary,  and  her  white 
hands  operate  the  typewriter  like  those  of  the  oldest 
amanuensis.  She  trills  a  little  French  song  at  the 
same  time,  and  blushes  to  the  neck  when  any  one 
catches  her  at  it  and  speaks  of  her  sweet  voice  and 
accurate  ear.  Work  for  her  father  is  a  higher  satis- 
faction to  her.  She  subordinates  herself  completely 
to  his  thoughts.  She  used  to  be,  like  every  one  else, 
a  lover  of  Shakespeare,  but  since  she  copied  the 
latest  work  of  her  father  upon,  or  rather  against, 
Shakespeare,  she  has  been  convinced  and  converted 
by  his  arguments.  She  said  this  without  any  affec- 
tation, with  the  sincerity  of  a  child.  It  is  to  be  seen 
that  the  deep  tenderness  of  her  love  for  her  father 
springs  from  her  care  of  him.  She  trembles  for  him. 
Perhaps  she  exerts  herself,  too,  to  replace  all  the 

297 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

brothers  and  sisters  who  have  gone  out  from  the 
home.  Of  nine  living  children  —  there  were  origi- 
nally thirteen — she  is  the  last.  It  is  easy  to  see,  too, 
how  much  the  careful  precautions  of  this  daughter 
please  the  count.  When  his  eyes  rest  on  her  face, 
beautiful  with  the  distinction  of  race  and  maiden- 
hood, it  is  as  if  a  ray  of  light  passed  over  his  face. 
He  does  this,  however,  as  if  by  stealth.  His  love 
is  shy,  as  is  hers. 

Soon  after  luncheon  the  count  sent  me  an  invita- 
tion to  join  him.  He  had  paused  in  his  work  to  eat 
a  few  mouthfuls.  Meanwhile  we  might  chat.  We 
again  sat  at  the  same  table.  The  talk  turned  on  the 
war,  against  which  the  coimt  was  just  writing  an  arti- 
cle. He  made  the  observation  that  the  right-minded 
Russian  was  in  a  remarkable  position.  He  con- 
tradicted all  human  feelings  in  wishing  a  defeat  for 
his  own  nation.  The  bitterest  misfortune  that  Rus- 
sia could  meet,  however,  would  be  the  continuance 
of  the  present  criminal  regime,  which  demands  so 
many  victims,  inflicts  so  much  suffering  upon  Rus- 
sia, and  which,  in  case  of  victory,  would  only  be 
strengthened.  Quite  recently  he  had  received  a 
letter  from  a  highly  gifted  writer,  a  certain  Semionov, 
whom  he  himself  had  discovered  and  taught.  Se- 
mionov, a  peasant,  had  been  a  janitor  in  Moscow,  but 
on  Tolstoi's  advice  had  returned  to  his  father,  and 
had  written  a  little  volume  of  stories,  which  Tolstoi 
rates  higher  than  those  of  Gorki.  Now  the  gen- 
darmes have  confiscated  everything  he  has,  and,  if 

298 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

I  am  not  mistaken,  have  even  arrested  the  writer. 
The  pressure,  the  count  says,  is  unendurable.  I 
told  him  of  my  meeting  with  the  Cossack  colonel  in 
Tula  and  of  the  hotel  servants  in  Moscow,  who 
one  and  all  wished  to  go  to  the  scene  of  war  for  the 
sake  of  plimder.  "Certainly,"  answered  the  count. 
"The  soldier  must  rejoice  over  every  war,  for  war 
gives  him  for  the  first  time  a  kind  of  title  to  exist- 
ence in  his  own  eyes.  As  to  these  house-servants 
and  waiters,  however,  who  are  so  ready  to  take  part 
in  the  war,  their  love  of  fighting  is  nothing  but  com- 
mon love  of  stealing.  The  Europeans  have  rioted 
and  pltmdered  shamefully  in  China.  The  people  of 
the  lower  classes  suffer  from  these  things,  and  thus 
all  their  evil  instincts  are  awakened." 

I  told  the  count  of  the  officially  arranged  patriotic 
demonstrations  in  St.  Petersburg,  of  which  I  had 
been  a  witness,  and  in  which  alcohol  had  played  its 
part. 

"Yes,  intoxication!"  said  the  count;  "they  need 
that  to  make  people  forget  that  killing,  robbery, 
and  plunder  are  sins.  If  people  only  came  to  their 
senses  they  could  no  longer  do  these  things;  for 
nineteen  hundred  years  of  Christianity,  however 
falsified,  leave  their  trail  in  the  consciousness  of 
man,  and  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  rage  like 
the  heathen.  But  everything  is  done  to  suppress 
religion.  Our  upper  classes  have  already  complete- 
ly lost  religious  consciousness.  They  either  say 
'Away  with  this  nonsense!'  and  become  gross  ma- 

299 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

terialists,  or  they  remain  orthodox  and  do  not  them- 
selves know  what  they  believe — stupid  stuff  about 
the  world's  being  created  in  six  days  and  lasting 
only  six  thousand  years.  This  trash,  which  is  taught 
the  people  as  religion — that  is  to  say,  belief  in  the 
schools — is  just  as  much  a  means  of  hindering  re- 
ligion as  a  superficial  knowledge  of  science.  Yet 
religion  alone  can  free  us  from  our  evils,  from  war 
and  violence,  and  bring  men  together  again.  Re- 
ligion is  at  present  in  a  latent  condition  in  every 
one,  and  needs  only  to  be  developed.  And  this 
religion  is  the  same  for  all,  for  the  native  religious 
consciousness  is  quite  the  same  in  all  men.  But 
the  churches  prevent  this  unity,  and  bury  this  re- 
ligious consciousness  under  forms  and  dogmas 
which  produce  a  sort  of  stupefaction  instead  of 
satisfying  the  religious  hunger." 

I  repeated  the  amusing  remark  of  the  Cossack 
colonel  of  Tula,  that  Tolstoi  was  a  great  man,  only 
that  it  was  a  pity  that  he  was  an  atheist. 

The  poet  laughed,  with  something  like  pain  in  the 
laugh. 

"  There  is  always  a  certain  amount  of  truth  in 
which  people  believe,  only  it  is  misunderstood.  To 
that  good  Cossack  faith  and  orthodoxy  are  identical. 
My  own  sister,  who  is  in  a  convent,  laments  that 
her  brother  asserts  that  the  Gospel  is  the  worst 
book  that  has  ever  been  written.  The  truth  is  that 
I  made  this  assertion  about  the  legends  of  the  saints, 
but  it  is  misquoted.     The  authorities  know  what  I 

300 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

think  of  the  Gospel.  They  have  even  struck  out 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  two  verses  which  I  put 
into  an  alphabet  for  the  people." 

"Who  struck  them  out?"  I  asked. 

"The  censor,  to  be  sure.  An  orthodox  Christian 
censorship  strikes  out  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
two  verses  which  do  not  suit  it.  This  is  called 
Christianity." 

The  authorities  give  the  Tolstoi  family  the  great- 
est difficulty  in  its  work  of  educating  the  people. 
The  village  school  was  suppressed,  because  reading 
and  writing  were  taught  there  and  not  orthodoxy. 
The  instruction  which  the  Countess  Sasha  now 
gives  is  quite  unsystematic.  Five  children  come 
to  her  at  the  old  manor,  and  are  taught  the  black 
arts  of  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  manual 
training,  in  constant  danger  that  some  high  au- 
thority will  interfere  to  ward  off  this  injury  to  the 
state. 

"  It  is  quite  probable  that  we  shall  all  be  officially 
disciplined  when  my  father  is  no  longer  living," 
the  Countess  Sasha  said  to  us,  with  that  calmness 
with  which  every  one  in  Russia  sacrifices  himself  to 
his  convictions. 

There  was  nothing  pastoral,  likewise  nothing 
exalted,  in  Tolstoi's  manner  during  this  conversa- 
tion. After  finishing  his  luncheon  he  rose  and 
walked  up  and  down  the  long  dining-room  with 
me,  both  hands  in  his  belt,  as  he  is  painted  by 
Ryepin.     He  spoke  conversationally,  with  no  es- 

301 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

pecial  emphasis  on  any  word,  as  to  one  whom  there 
is  no  need  of  convincing.  It  was  the  afternoon 
conversation  of  an  intelHgent  country  gentleman 
with  his  guest — the  easy,  matter-of-course  talking 
in  a  minute  of  resting — talk  that  is  not  meant  to  go 
deep  or  to  philosophize.  To  me  it  proved  only  the 
lively  interest  taken  by  Tolstoi  in  all  the  events  of 
the  day.  He  was  not  at  all  the  hermit,  merely  pre- 
paring himself  by  holy  deeds  for  heavenly  glory, 
but  an  alert,  vigorous,  elderly  man  who  watches 
events  without  eagerness  or  passion,  yet  with  suf- 
ficient sympathy — an  apostle  unanointed,  literally 
or  figuratively. 

A  half  -  hour's  siesta  was  a  necessity  after  the 
night  spent  in  travel  and  the  excitements  of  the 
morning.  We  rested,  as  did  the  whole  house,  in 
which  at  this  time  there  was  scarcely  a  sound.  I 
do  not  know  whether  such  stillness  reigns  in  sum- 
mer in  the  park,  which  now  lay  buried  deep  in 
snow.  The  house  is  very  quiet  now  because  it  has 
become  too  large  for  the  remaining  occupants.  A 
whole  suite  of  simply  furnished  rooms  on  the  ground 
floor  stands  entirely  empty,  and  is  awakened  to  life 
only  when  the  married  children  come  to  visit.  In 
the  first  floor,  also,  where  the  study  and  reception- 
room  are,  everything  has  become  too  large.  After 
we  had  settled  for  our  nap  we  heard  only  the  click 
of  the  typewriter,  on  which  the  Countess  Sasha  was 
copying  the  manuscript  her  father  had  written  in 
the  morning,  and  the  low  song  with  which  she  ac- 

302 


I 
I 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

companied  her  work.  Then  the  house  awoke  again. 
The  count  was  about  to  take  his  ride.  A  fine  black 
horse  was  led  to  the  door,  and  the  old  count  de- 
scended the  stairs  with  his  light,  quick  step.  He 
now  had  the  Russian  shawl  around  his  neck  and  a 
broad  woollen  scarf  belted  about  his  body.  He 
drew  on  his  high  felt  overshoes  and  thick  mittens, 
put  the  lambskin  cap  on  his  head,  seized  his  riding- 
whip,  and  went  out.  A  strange  muzhik  was  wait- 
ing for  him  before  the  door.  He  had  come  from  a 
distance  to  lay  his  case  before  the  count.  Tolstoi 
listened  to  him,  questioned  him,  and  then  called 
the  servant.  As  he  was  not  at  hand,  the  count 
asked  me  to  tell  him  to  give  the  muzhik  some 
money.  Then  a  foot  in  the  stirrup,  and,  with 
the  swing  of  a  youth,  the  man  of  seventy -five 
seated  himself  in  the  saddle.  It  is  easy  to  see, 
even  now,  that  he  must  once  have  been  a  nota- 
ble horseman  and  athlete.  For,  though  strength 
of  passion  abates  in  an  elderly  man,  he  who  has 
once  had  muscular  training  does  not  lose  the  ef- 
fects of  it. 

With  a  nod  of  the  head  the  rider  rapidly  disap- 
peared in  the  lane  that  leads  to  the  main  road.  It 
was  already  growing  dark  when  he  returned,  chilled 
through,  and  now  noticeably  altered.  The  cold  had 
pinched  his  face ;  his  eyelids  were  slightly  reddened ; 
eyebrows,  mustache,  and  beard  were  thickly  frost- 
ed. The  change  was  only  superficial,  however.  An 
hour  later  he  was  more  fresh  and  vigorous  than 

303 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

before,   held  himself  erect,   and   spoke  with  ever- 
increasing  animation. 

We,  however,  spent  the  afternoon  in  a  walk  in 
the  village  with  the  Countess  Sasha.  We  had  ac- 
cepted her  invitation  with  pleasure.  She  now  ap- 
peared, humming,  in  a  lively  mood,  slipped  on  a 
light  gray  Circassian  mantle  and  her  little  high 
overshoes,  wound  a  long,  red  scarf  about  her,  and 
put  a  gray  Circassian  cap  on  her  thick  hair.  Noth- 
ing was  ever  more  beautiful  than  this  creature,  so 
full  of  health  and  strength.  She  took  a  stout  stick 
from  the  wall  for  protection  from  dogs,  and  then 
led  us  out  into  the  deep  snow,  in  which  only  a  nar- 
row path  was  trodden. 

Even  the  deepest  reverence  does  not  require  un- 
critical adoration.  Moreover,  Tolstoi  is  of  such 
phenomenal  importance  for  us  all  that  the  narrator 
who  can  communicate  his  own  perceptions  is  bound 
to  reproduce  them  with  the  most  absolute  fidelity. 
Therefore,  I  believe  I  ought  not  to  conceal  the 
thoughts  which  refused  to  leave  me  during  the 
walk  through  this  village.  I  had  to  admire  once 
more  the  deep  humanity  of  the  Tolstois  when  I 
saw  the  Countess  Sasha,  in  her  beauty  and  purity, 
go  into  the  damp,  dirty  hovels  of  the  peasants,  and 
caress  the  ragged  and  filthy  children,  just  as  Kat- 
yusha, in  The  Resurrection,  kissed  a  deformed  beggar 
on  the  mouth  in  Easter  greeting  after  the  Easter 
mass.  This  absolute  Christian  brotherliness  receives 
expression  also  in  the  whole  attitude  of  the  family. 

304 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

Countess  Sasha  says,  quite  in  the  spirit  of  her  father : 
"The  industrious  peasant  stands  much  higher 
morally  than  we  who  own  the  land  and  do  not 
work  it.  Otherwise  he  differs  in  no  way  from  us 
in  his  virtues  and  vices."  This  brotherliness,  how- 
ever, has  this  shortcoming,  that  it  leaves  the  broth- 
er where  it  finds  him,  and  does  not  compel  him  to 
conform  to  different  and  more  refined  ways  of  living. 
The  Tolstoi  family  teaches  the  village  children.  It 
has  established  a  little  clinic  in  the  village.  But  it 
does  not  make  its  influence  felt  in  teaching  the  vil- 
lagers personal  cleanliness,  taking,  say,  the  German 
colonists  in  the  south  as  a  model.  I  cannot  con- 
ceive of  the  peasants  of  Yasnaya  Polyana  looking 
as  they  would  if  the  landlord  were  an  English  or 
Dutch  philanthropist  instead  of  a  Russian;  and  I 
cannot  believe,  either,  that  the  simplicity  of  man- 
ners or  the  warmth  of  brotherly  love  would  suffer 
if  the  village  looked,  for  instance,  like  those  of  the 
Moravians,  which  shine  with  cleanliness.  To  be 
sure,  the  count  refrains  from  any  pressure  on  the 
people  about  him,  and  if  his  muzhik  feels  better  un- 
washed, as  his  fathers  were  before  him,  and  prefers 
a  dirty,  unaired  room,  shared  with  the  dear  cattle, 
to  one  in  which  he  would  have  to  take  off  his  shoes 
to  prevent  soiling  the  floor,  the  count  will  not  ex- 
hort him  to  change  into  a  Swabian  or  a  Dutchman. 
^Esthetic  demands  do  not  form  any  part  of  the 
Tolstoi  view  of  life — I  believe  that  for  this  reason  it 
will  find  slow  acceptance  in  the  West. 

305 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

There  is  the  meekness  and  "lowliness"  of  early 
Christianity,  there  is  an  anti-Hellenic  principle  in 
the  village  dirt  of  Yasnaya  Polyana.  It  is  true 
that  Hellenism  leads  in  its  final  outcome  to  the 
abominable  "  Herrenmenschenthiim  *  of  Nietzsche, 
to  Nero's  hatred  of  the  "many  too  many."  A  pre- 
dominant aesthetic  valuation  of  the  good  things 
of  life  leads  in  a  negative  way  to  the  immoral  in 
conduct.  Every  final  consequence,  however — that 
is,  every  extreme — is  absurd ;  even  absolute  spiritu- 
ality, indifferent  to  all  outward  things,  as  well  as  the 
heartless  cult  of  mere  external  beauty.  If  we  may 
learn  from  the  muzhik  patience  in  misfortune,  we 
have  also  something  to  offer  him  in  return  for  this 
in  ideas  of  how  to  care  for  the  body  and  of  aesthet- 
ically refined  ways  of  living.  But  Leo  Tolstoi  is 
an  enemy  of  all  compromise,  and  perhaps  must  be 
so.  If  the  impulse  towards  the  spiritualizing  of  our 
life,  towards  brotherly  kindness  and  holiness,  which 
goes  out  from  him,  is  to  work  in  its  full  force,  it 
must  be  free  from  any  foreign  admixture,  at  least 
in  him,  its  source.  In  the  actual  world  counter- 
acting forces  are  not  wanting,  moreover,  and  in 
some  way  the  balance  is  always  struck.  The  syn- 
thesis of  Nietzsche  and  Tolstoi  is  really  not  so  very 
hard  to  find.  It  was  given  long  ago  in  the  "kaho- 
kayadin"  (beauty  and  goodness)  of  the  ancients  as 
well  as  in  the  rightly  understood  conception  of  the 

^  The  theory  that  the  elect  few  alone  deserve  to  live  and 
that  the  masses  are  superfluous. 

306 


A    VISIT   TO    TOLSTOI 

gentleman.  If  Tolstoi's  human  ideal  wears  the 
form  of  the  muzhik  and  flatly  rejects  every  con- 
cession to  the  claims  of  an  aesthetic  culture,  the 
fact  leads  back  ultimately  to  the  repulsion  which 
the  St.  Petersburg  type  of  civihzation  must  awaken 
in  every  unspoiled  mind.  One  perceives  there  that 
luxury  cannot  uplift  man.  Indeed,  it  is  easy  to  come 
to  the  Tolstoi  conviction  that  it  ruins  instead  of 
ennobling  him.  An  isolated  thinker  like  Tolstoi 
reaches  in  this  revulsion  very  extreme  consequences. 
In  any  case  the  bodily  uncleanness  of  the  peasants 
is  less  unpleasant  to  him  and  his  daughter  than  the 
moral  impurity  of  the  town  dwellers.  The  dirt  of 
the  peasants  is  for  him  nature,  like  the  cHnging  clay 
of  the  field. 

Suppressing  our  thoughts,  we  followed  our  brave 
guide  into  the  houses  of  the  village.  With  a  few 
blows  of  her  stick  she  put  to  flight  the  snarling  curs 
that  stood  in  her  way.  In  the  first  house  there 
was  great  wretchedness.  The  muzhik  lay  sick  on  the 
oven,  beside  him  a  stunted,  hunchback  child.  The 
wife  sat  at  the  loom,  surrounded  by  a  heap  of  other 
children,  flaxen  -  haired  and  unspeakably  filthy. 
Half  a  dozen  lambs  shared  the  room  and  its  fright- 
ful air  with  the  peasants,  sick  and  well.  The  young 
countess  had  a  friendly  word  for  each.  One  of  the 
children  was  a  pupil  of  hers,  and  was  at  that  very 
time  working  at  her  writing  lesson.  This,  of  course, 
was  praised.  There  was,  however,  something  ob- 
sequiously cringing  about  the  peasant  woman  I  did 

307 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

not  like.  It  was  all  quite  different  in  the  next 
house,  which  belonged  to  a  rich  muzhik.  He  like- 
wise lay  on  the  oven.  The  room  was  lighter,  thanks 
to  a  larger  window,  but  the  floor  was  equally  dirty, 
and  the  inevitable  lambs  were  pushing  each  other 
about  in  the  straw  in  the  same  way.  At  our  entrance 
the  muzhik  awoke  and  got  up.  His  mighty  brown 
beard  almost  covered  his  breast,  which  showed 
through  his  open  shirt,  and  was  covered  with  a 
thick  crust.  This  peasant,  however,  read  the  pa- 
per, spoke  of  the  war,  and  put  a  very  interesting 
question.  A  little  while  before  the  Countess  Sasha 
had  been  at  his  house  with  Bryan,  who  had  visited 
her  father.  The  muzhik  and  his  visitor  had  be- 
come rather  friendly.  Now  the  muzhik  read  in  the 
paper  that  the  Americans  are  enemies  of  Russia. 
How  about  his  friend  Bryan  ?  The  countess,  there- 
fore, had  to  tell  him  whether  Bryan  had  now  become 
his  personal  enemy.  She  reassured  him,  laughing. 
The  peasant  woman  accompanied  us  out  of  the 
house,  and  made  the  characteristic  speech:  "I  am 
ashamed ;  we  live  here  like  pigs ;  but  what  is  any  one 
to  do?     We  are  so,  and  can't  help  it!" 

In  the  same  house  is  the  little  village  hospital, 
which  for  the  present  is  only  a  movable  affair.  This 
is  kept  really  clean.  The  amount  of  illness  is  large. 
The  peasants  from  the  surrounding  country  come 
also,  and  the  doctor  often  has  to  treat  forty  pa- 
tients in  a  single  office  hour.  He  is  said  to  be  an 
able  man  and  a  good  one — a  matter  of  course  in 

308 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

Tolstoi's  vicinity.  Whether  one  wishes  it  or  not, 
one  is  drawn  out  here  in  the  atmosphere  of  pure 
kindliness.  When  I  came  back  from  the  village  I 
was  almost  ashamed  that  I  had  held  my  breath  in 
the  peasant's  room. 


XXX 

A   VISIT    TO   TOLSTO'i — CONTINUED 

AT  six  o'clock  we  were  summoned  to  dinner,  at 
r\  which  the  count  appeared.  As  entree  there 
were  baked  fish — for  the  count,  rice  cutlets — then 
a  roast  and  vegetables,  of  which  the  count  took 
only  the  latter;  then  dessert  and  black  coffee.  We 
drank  kvass,  later  tea,  with  cakes.  Everything  was 
very  well  prepared.  A  man-servant  waited  at  table. 
It  is  by  no  means  petty  to  tell  all  this.  The  Tolstois 
do  not  live  on  locusts  and  wild  honey,  but  like 
other  good  families  in  Russia.  We  have,  thank 
Heaven,  outgrown  the  days  when  genius  had  to  as- 
sert itself  by  extravagant  conduct.  Brilliant  orig- 
inality is  entirely  compatible  with  conformity  to 
custom  in  all  every-day  usages,  according  to  our 
way  of  thinking.  Conversely,  all  originality  im- 
mediately becomes  suspicious  in  our  eyes  when  it 
labors  to  assert  itself  in  trifles.  "A  wise  man  be- 
haves like  other  people."  The  individuality  of 
Tolstoi  shows  in  no  way  the  stamp  of  the  idle  wish 
to  differentiate  itself  in  each  and  every  particular 
from  other  people. 

No  one  will  expect  me  to  reproduce  every  detail 
310 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

of  the  conversation,  which  began  at  dinner  and 
ended  almost  six  hours  later  at  the  house  door.  I 
certainly  have  not  forgotten  a  word  of  it,  but  I 
cannot  answer  for  the  order  of  succession  of  sub- 
jects, nor  even  for  every  expression  and  every  turn 
of  speech.  I  therefore  reconstruct  from  memory 
only  what  seems  to  me  the  most  important,  and  ask 
every  indulgence  for  this  report.  It  is  as  faithful 
as  is  possible  to  human  inadequacy  after  such  fa- 
tigues and  excitements,  and  with  rather  tardy  notes. 

"I  am  now  under  the  influence  of  two  Germans," 
began  the  count.  "I  am  reading  Kant  and  Lich- 
tenberg — selections,  to  be  sure,  for  I  do  not  possess 
an  original  edition.  I  am  fascinated  by  the  clear- 
ness and  grace  of  their  style,  and  in  particular  by 
Lichtenberg's  keen  wit." 

"Goethe  says,  'When  Lichtenberg  makes  a  jest, 
a  whole  system  is  hidden  behind  it,'"  I  threw  in. 

"  I  do  not  understand  how  the  Germans  of  to-day 
can  so  neglect  their  writer  and  go  so  mad  over  a 
coquettish  feuilletonist  like  Nietzsche.  He  is  no 
philosopher,  and  has  no  honest  purpose  of  seeking 
and  speaking  the  truth." 

"  But  he  has  an  unprecedented  polish  of  style, 
and  an  endless  amount  of  temperament." 

"Schopenhauer  seems  to  me  greater  as  a  stylist. 
Still,  I  agree  with  you  that  he  has  a  glittering  polish, 
though  it  is  only  the  facile  grace  of  the  feuilletonist, 
which  does  not  entitle  him  to  a  place  among  the 
great  thinkers  and  teachers  of  humanity." 

311 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"  He  flatters,  however,  the  aristocratic  instincts 
of  the  new-Germans,  who  have  attained  power  and 
honor,  and  he  works  against  the  evils  of  socialism." 

"  What  is  the  condition  of  socialism  in  Germany?" 
asked  the  count,  immediately,  with  great  interest. 

"I  fear  it  has  lost  in  depth  and  strength  what  it 
has  gained  in  breadth." 

"You  may  be  right,"  he  answered.  "I  have  the 
same  impression.  The  belief  in  its  invincibility  is 
broken,  and  its  internal  strength  of  conviction  be- 
gins to  weaken.  It  had  to  be  so.  Socialism  can- 
not free  humanity.  No  system  and  no  doctrine  can 
do  that — nothing  but  religion." 

"The  Church  says  that,  too." 

"But  she  teaches  it  falsely.  What  is  religion? 
The  striving  of  each  individual  soul  towards  per- 
fection; the  subordination  to  an  ideal.  As  long  as 
a  man  has  that  he  feels  a  purpose  in  life,  can  en- 
dure all  sufferings,  and  is  capable  of  any  strain.  It 
does  not  need  necessarily  to  be  a  lofty  ideal.  A 
man  may  have  an  ambition  to  develop  his  biceps 
to  an  uncommon  degree.  If  he  takes  this  as  his 
particular  purpose  in  life  this  aim  carries  him  along 
completely.  To  be  sure,  a  man's  choice  of  an  ideal 
can  be  only  apparently  capricious.  In  reality  we 
are  all  products  of  our  environment;  and  after  nine- 
teen hundred  years  of  Christianity  we  cannot  with 
any  true  conviction  set  up  ideals  which  contradict 
the  real  Christianity.  We  can  make  ourselves  be- 
lieve  something   else   for   a  while.     But   the   con- 

312 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

science  will  not  submit  to  be  silenced.  Peace  is  at- 
tained only  by  the  religious  ideal  of  perfection  and 
of  love  of  humanity.  Nothing  is  deadly  except 
cynicism  and  nihilism." 

"  I  remember  your  metaphor,  comparing  a  so- 
ciety without  religion  or  moral  enthusiasm  to  an 
orchestra  that  has  lost  its  leader.  It  keeps  in  time 
for  a  while,  then  come  the  discords." 

"We  are  now  in  the  first  measure  after  his  de- 
parture. All  will  go  well  for  a  while,  but  then  every 
one  will  get  out  of  time;  the  leaders  first,  because 
they  are  most  exposed  to  temptation;  then,  class 
by  class,  the  lower  ones  also." 

"  I  believe  a  state  is  like  a  magnet,  in  which  every 
smallest  particle  must  have  its  direction,  or  else  the 
whole  loses  its  strength  and  cohesion." 

"Exactly.  A  state  or  a  society,  like  the  individ- 
ual, is  fit  for  life  only  so  long  as  it  feels  as  a  whole 
a  reason  for  being.  This  life  principle  of  totality 
is,  however,  identical  with  the  idea  of  the  individual. 
It  is  the  stream  that  encircles  each  particle  and 
brings  it  into  polarity." 

"  People  try  to  reach  it  by  the  ideal  of  nationalism 
and  patriotism." 

"That  is  no  ideal.  It  is  an  absurd  idea,  which 
immediately  comes  into  irreconcilable  conflict  with 
our  better  feelings.  An  ideal  that  can  and  does  re- 
quire me  to  kill  my  neighbor  in  order  to  gain  an 
advantage  for  the  group  to  which  I  belong  is  crim- 
inal." 

313 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"  Yet  it  is  dangerous  to  stand  out  against  it.  You 
had  a  controversy  on  that  point  with  Spielhagen, 
who  cast  it  up  to  you  that  you  incHne  people  to 
fling  themselves  under  the  wheels  of  a  flying  ex- 
press-train." 

"  I  remember.  But  Spielhagen  does  not  know 
how  many  people  already  comply  with  the  require- 
ments of  the  gospel.  The  Doukhobors  are  such 
people." 

"  But  they  were  obliged  to  leave  the  country." 

"What  difference  does  that  make?  They  were 
able  to  remain  true  to  themselves.  That  is  better 
than  remaining  at  home.  And  when  we  have  once 
changed  education,  and  have  taken  the  sinful  glori- 
fication of  deeds  of  murder  out  of  the  hands  of  our 
children,  then  there  will  be  not  merely  thousands, 
but  milHons,  who  will  refuse  to  sacrifice  themselves, 
or  have  themselves  murdered  for  the  ambition  or 
the  material  advantage  of  a  few  individuals.  And 
then  this  chapter  of  world-history  will  end." 

"  But  the  school  is  a  matter  of  politics,  and  the 
state  or  the  influential  classes  will  be  careful  not  to 
permit  an  education  that  will  make  their  lower 
classes  unavailable  for  purposes  of  war." 

"Certainly.  And  as  long  as  there  is  a  church 
which  by  its  fundamental  teaching  delivers  itself 
over  as  an  assistant  to  the  state,  and  which  blesses 
weapons  of  murder,  so  long  will  it  be  hard  to  fight 
against  the  evil  instincts  thus  aroused.  But  school, 
of  course,  does  not  end  man's  education.     Later 

314 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

reading  is  much  more  important.  We  have,  there- 
fore, created  something  that  might  well  be  imitated 
abroad  also,  our  'Posrednik,'  books  for  the  people. 
The  thing  that  suppresses  bad  reading  among  the 
people  is  good  books,  especially  stories.  The  books 
are  sold  very  cheaply.  Our  artists  design  frontis- 
pieces for  them.  You  must  look  at  them  in  Moscow, 
I  will  give  you  a  letter  to  the  publisher,  my  friend 
Ivan  Ivanovitch  Gorbunov,  who  can  tell  you  the 
details." 

He  did  so.  With  his  kind  letter  I  afterwards 
looked  up  Gorbunov  in  Moscow.  Under  the  press- 
ure of  the  Russian  censorship  he  accomplishes  the 
immense  work  of  spreading  among  the  people  every 
year  several  million  good  books  at  a  cost  of  a  few 
kopeks  each,  without  having  needed  to  add  to  his 
original  capital  of  thirty  thousand  rubles.  I  fulfil 
a  duty,  and  at  the  same  time  a  wish  of  Tolstoi's, 
in  here  calling  attention  most  emphatically  to  this 
magnificent  Russian  enterprise,  which  should  be  an 
example  for  all  other  nations. 

I  took  up  the  subject  of  socialism  again,  and 
said,  "  In  the  West,  Social  Democracy  is  trying  to 
solve  the  problem  of  educating  the  masses  and  to 
emancipate  them." 

"  This  is  certainly  meritorious,"  replied  the  cotmt. 
"The  mistake  lies  in  the  teaching  of  the  Social 
Democrats  that  some  other  organization  of  society 
will  automatically  abolish  evil  from  the  world.  The 
principal  thing,  however,  is  always  to  raise  the  in- 

315 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

dividual  to  better  morals  and  better  ways  of  think- 
ing. Without  this  no  system  can  be  permanent. 
Each  leads  only  to  new  violence.  People  ought  not 
to  wish  to  better  the  world,  but  to  better  them- 
selves." 

"  In  that  you  agree  essentially  with  our  Modems, 
who  likewise  take  a  stand  against  socialism  and 
preach  an  extreme  individuaHsm.  I  see  in  that 
only  a  reactionary  manoeuvre,  however." 

"How  so?"  asked  the  count. 

"  I  believe  that  all  wars  for  culture  are  always 
fought  in  a  small  class  of  thinking  people.  For  the 
masses,  provision  for  material  needs  is  really  the 
principal  thing.  In  the  thinking  class,  however, 
there  are  two  parties :  one,  consisting  of  the  feudal- 
ists, the  plutocrats,  and  university  -  bred  business 
men,  fortune-hunters,  seeks  for  itself  the  privilege 
of  exploiting  others ;  the  other  consists  of  the  ideal- 
ists, who  desire  progress — that  is,  the  education  and 
freeing  of  the  masses.  Sometimes  the  one  class, 
with  its  aristocratic  philosophy  of  profit,  wins  the 
upper  hand,  sometimes  the  other.  We  do  not  yet 
know  in  what  Hellenic  or  Sidonian  laws  the  spirit- 
ual ebb  and  flow  will  find  its  consummation.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  each  party  uses  as  a  means 
of  attraction  the  declaration  that  its  point  of  view 
is  the  more  progressive  and  that  the  opposite  is 
the  losing  side.  The  individualists,  in  their  scorn  of 
socialism,  render  the  most  valuable  service  towards 
fundamental  and  complete  reaction  to  the  aristo- 

316 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

cratic-plutocratic  party  of  exploitation,  because 
they  spread  confusion  in  the  ranks  of  the  idealists 
by  discrediting  their  solidarity.  Nevertheless,  they 
call  themselves  "the  Modems,"  and  dub  the  ad- 
vocates of  solidarity  *  old  fogies.'  The  most  mod- 
em thing  in  the  West  is  a  vile  cult  of  the  Ueber- 
mensch  (over -man)  Renaissance  sentimentalism 
and  the  cult  of  beauty  in  bearing — aesthetic  snob- 
ism." 

"All  that  originates  with  Nietzsche.  The  mis- 
take, however,  does  not  lie  in  the  principle  of  in- 
dividualism, which  does  not  exclude  solidarity,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  advances  it.  For  the  individual 
unquestionably  attains  solidarity  in  the  very  strug- 
gle towards  his  own  perfection.  The  mistake  lies 
in  the  aestheticism,  in  the  basing  of  life  on  externals 
and  on  enjoyment.  Connected  with  this  is  the 
strangest  thing  of  all,  that  this  resurrection  of  the 
madness  of  the  Renaissance  has  not  made  use  of 
art.  For  all  that  is  produced  is  nothing  but  pure 
silliness.  I  have  not  laughed  so  much  for  years  as 
at  an  entirely  serious  account  of  the  contents  of 
Mona  Vanna,  or  at  the  poems  which  our  aesthete 
and  decadent  Balmont  read  to  me.  None  of  those 
things  are  to  be  taken  seriously  as  art.  They  will 
only  confuse  people  through  their  absurdity,  which 
could  not  exist  if  the  healthy  human  understanding 
had  not  been  brought  into  discredit.  It  is  no  bet- 
ter with  you  in  Germany.  Why  is  your  literary 
product  so  low?" 

317 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"Who  knows,  count?  It  has  already  been  as- 
serted that  since  1870  the  gifted  minds  have  turned 
to  more  serious  and  more  lucrative  callings  than 
literature.  But  I  do  not  believe  it.  The  sciences 
show  at  present  just  as  few  geniuses  as  the  arts.  It 
seems  as  if  there  were  laws  of  ebb  and  flow  here, 
too.  Sometimes  a  whole  billow  of  inspired  intel- 
lects is  flung  upon  the  earth,  and  then  there  is  long 
drought.  We  have  had  no  great  writers  since  Gott- 
fried Keller." 

"Gottfried  Keller?  I  have  never  heard  the 
name  before.     Who  was  he?    What  did  he  write?" 

"  He  was  a  Swiss  who  inherited  Goethe's  free 
outlook  on  life,  and  wrote  the  best  German  novels, 
full  of  creative  art,  of  racy  humor,  and  of  almost 
uncanny  knowledge  of  human  nature.  He  would 
give  you  much  pleasure." 

"  How  ?  You  say  he  inherits  to  some  degree  from 
Goethe.  In  that  case  my  enthusiasm  would  be 
doubtful,  for  I  cannot  say  I  especially  love  that 
Goethe  of  yours." 

"Is  it  possible?" 

"There  are  some  of  his  works  I  admire  without 
reserve,  which  stand  among  the  finest  things  that 
have  ever  been  written :  Hermann  and  Dorothea,  for 
instance.  I  once  knew  his  dedication  by  heart. 
Yet  the  lyrics  of  Heine,  for  instance,  make  a  deeper 
impression  upon  me  than  Goethe's." 

"Pardon  the  remark,  count,  but  in  that  case 
your  knowledge  of  the  German  language  is  not  suf- 

318 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

ficient  for  you  to  notice  the  difference  in  quality. 
Heine  is  a  virtuoso,  who  plays  with  form.  With 
Goethe,  every  word  breathes  the  deepest  spiritual 
experience  and  is  uttered  from  inward  necessity." 

"The  same  thing  is  said  here  of  Pushkin — that 
his  greatness  can  be  appreciated  only  by  those  who 
are  most  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  lan- 
guage. I  haven't  any  too  much  faith  in  all  that, 
however.  To  be  sure,  a  translation  is  only  the 
wrong  side  of  the  carpet ;  yet  I  believe  really  great 
works  hold  their  own  in  translation,  so  the  form  of 
phrase  cannot  be  the  only  test  for  the  value  of  a 
writing.  But  what  repels  me  in  Goethe  is  precisely 
that  play  on  form  of  which  you  accuse  Heine. 
Goethe  and  Shakespeare  are  both  artists  in  the 
sense  in  which  you  reproach  the  Moderns.  They 
are  bent  only  upon  cesthetic  play,  and  create  only 
for  enjoyment,  and  not  with  the  heart's  blood." 

"I  could  not  admit  that,  count,  without  repudi- 
ating everything  I  have  ever  thought  and  felt.  Not 
for  Shakespeare,  in  whom,  through  all  the  dramatic 
conventions  of  the  greater  part,  we  hear  the  heart- 
beat often  enough.  As  for  Goethe,  whose  poems 
are  partly  painful  confessions,  written  only  for  the 
reason  he  himself  gives, 

"  Warum  sucht'  ich  den  Weg  so  sehnsuchtsvoll 
Wenn  ich  ihn  nicht  den  Briidern  zeigen  soil?"' 

'  "  Why  do  T  seek  the  way  so  ardently,  if  not  that  I 
might  show  it  to  my  brothers?" 

319 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

"I  find  much  more  of  this  feeling  for  humanity 
in  Schiller." 

"He  is  more  rhetorical,  appeals  more  directly  to 
the  middle  class  and  contemporaries.  But,  like  the 
overbearing  political  tribune  he  was,  he  has  hardly 
entered  into  the  joy  and  sorrow  of  the  human 
soul." 

"And  it  is  exactly  this  that  brings  him  nearer  to 
me  than  Goethe  and  Shakespeare.  He  is  filled  with 
a  sacred  sense  of  purpose  in  his  work.  He  had  not 
the  cold  ambition  of  the  artist  to  be  merely  faithful 
to  his  model.  He  was  full  of  longing  that  we  should 
be  carried  away  with  him.  Of  the  three  require- 
ments I  make  of  the  great  artist — technical  perfec- 
tion, worthiness  of  subject,  and  self-identification 
with  the  matter — the  last  is  the  most  important. 
One  may  be  a  great  writer  even  when  technical 
perfection,  complete  mastery  of  the  tricks  of  the 
trade,  is  lacking,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  case  of 
Dostoyevski.  But  unless  a  man  writes  with  his 
heart's  blood  he  cannot  be  a  great  artist." 

"  I  believe  the  heart's-blood  doctrine  would  rule 
out  all  cheerful  genre,  and  that  meets  perhaps  best 
of  all  the  fundamental  purpose  of  art." 

"  You  say  that  because  you  yourself  see  in  art  only 
a  means  of  enjoyment,  only  play." 

I  could  not  have  denied  that  this  is  really  my  con- 
ception, and  should,  therewith,  have  hit  upon  the 
fundamental  opposition  between  our  Western  con- 
ception of  life,   as  expressed  by  Goethe,   and  the 

320 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

exclusively  religio-moral  one  of  Tolstoi.  I  could 
not,  however,  compel  myself  to  fill  with  a  fruitless 
argument  the  few  hours  I  had  to  spend  with  the 
honored  man.  I  should  have  been  as  little  able  to 
convince  the  apostle  of  seventy-five,  whose  ascetic 
philosophy  is  the  product  of  definite  conditions  of 
civilization,  as  he  to  convince  me,  the  west-German, 
whose  light-heartedness  and  confident  belief  in  cult- 
ure had  ripened  in  the  sunshine  of  the  Rhine  bank. 
I  therefore  evaded  the  point,  and  said: 

"  I  have  hitherto  not  taken  your  rigorous  demands 
upon  art  as  well  as  upon  life  quite  literally,  count. 
I  thought  to  myself  that  when  one  pulls  up  a  horse 
suddenly  he  does  not  wish  it  to  turn  around,  but 
only  to  stop.  I  supposed  that  you  wished  merely 
to  counteract  other  powerful  impulses." 

"  No,"  said  the  count,  after  a  moment's  reflection. 
"That  is  not  so.  I  believe  in  the  absolute  correct- 
ness of  my  demands.  I  myself,  however,  was  too 
weakly  or  too  badly  trained  to  submit  to  them 
altogether.  I  cannot,  for  instance,  keep  from  en- 
joying Chopin,  although  I  condemn  his  music  as 
exclusive  art,  which  addresses  itself  to  the  under- 
standing and  feelings  only  of  the  aristocratically 
cultivated  few." 

"  It  seems  to  me  an  unattainable  ideal  that  all 
men  should  share  in  enjoyment  of  art;  and  the  re- 
quirement that  the  artist  shall  refrain  from  all  work 
that  could  be  enjoyed  only  by  a  limited  number  of 
especially  cultivated  men  is  impossible  and  even 
21  321 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

harmful.  It  would  deprive  us  of  the  finest  works 
we  possess." 

"If  the  requirement  is  justified  in  and  of  itself, 
it  is  quite  immaterial  what  sacrifices  must  be  made 
to  it.  Nothing  is  to  be  considered  in  comparison 
with  truth." 

I  could  go  no  further  here,  again.  For  I  was 
talking  with  the  man  who  repudiates  his  own  im- 
mortal works  because  they  are  beyond  the  com- 
prehension of  most  people,  and  therefore  help  to 
widen  the  gulf  between  the  educated  and  the  un- 
educated. I  could  not  even  make  the  objection 
that  almost  all  learning  must  be  condemned  on  the 
same  ground,  for  it  is  well  known  that  Tolstoi  does 
not  shrink  from  even  this  conclusion. 

It  is  not,  however,  a  matter  of  indifference  to 
him  whether  people  consider  his  views  to  be  scien- 
tifically founded  —  i.e.,  correctly  reasoned  out  or 
not.  He  said  to  me  in  the  course  of  the  conver- 
sation : 

"  I  often  laugh,  and  I  also  often  grow  angry,  when 
people  cast  it  in  my  face  that  my  studies  are  not 
scientific.  I  assert  in  return  that  the  whole  of  posi- 
tivism and  materialism  is  unscientific.  If  I  seek  a 
science  by  which  I  can  live,  I  seek  it  only  logically 
and  steadfastly,  or  scientifically,  with  no  contra- 
diction within  itself  from  its  premises  to  its  final 
conclusion.  Scepticism,  on  the  other  hand,  com- 
pletely denies  every  concept  of  life.  And  yet  the 
sceptic  wishes  to  live,  otherwise  he  would  kill  him- 

322 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

self.  He  admits,  therefore,  by  the  mere  fact  that 
he  is  ahve  that  his  whole  philosophy  is  nothing  for 
him  but  an  idle  exercise  of  the  intellect  which  has 
no  bearing  on  his  life.  That  means  that  it  is  not 
in  the  least  trite  for  him.  I,  however,  seek  the 
premise  from  which  I  can  not  only  live,  but  live 
peacefully  and  cheerfully.  This  premise  is  God, 
and  the  duty  for  us  that  of  perfecting  ourselves.  I 
follow  the  consequence  of  that  premise  to  the  end, 
and  feel  that  I  am  right  not  only  in  words  but  also 
in  deeds." 

No  truly  scientific  thinker  needs  to  be  reminded 
that  Tolstoi  here,  in  the  a  priori  assumption  that 
life  must  have  a  meaning,  departs  from  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  all  scientific  reasoning — namely, 
the  starting  without  a  hypothesis,  and,  like  Kant, 
to  whom  he  feels  drawn  not  without  reason,  works 
with  postulates  instead  of  with  conclusions.  But 
who  will  not  rejoice  that  the  poet,  who  above  all 
things  was  and  is  a  passionate  human  creature,  has 
saved  himself  from  the  despair  of  agnosticism  by 
a  bold  leap  to  the  rock  of  faith,  which  lies  beyond 
all  science,  and  can  neither  be  supported  nor  shaken 
by  it?  How  many  of  the  proud  agnostics  do  not 
secretly  cast  furtive  glances  at  that  rock,  where 
they  would  like  to  reserve  themselves  a  place 
against  emergencies?  While  Tolstoi  sincerely  ac- 
knowledges that  without  this  foundation  under  his 
feet  he  would  no  longer  be  able  to  live.  He  needed 
this  quieting  as  to  the  outcome  of  things  to  be  able 

323 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

to  follow  his  poetic  impulse  to  look  at  the  world  as 
it  is.  Only  entirely  barren,  abstract  natures  find 
their  satisfaction  in  the  voluntarily  limited  logical 
sequence  of  science,  confined  as  it  is  to  the  empiri- 
cal. All  men  of  imagination,  including  Goethe  and 
Bismarck,  have  had  their  share  of  mystic  confi- 
dence in  that  beneficent  course  of  the  universe  which 
in  popular  language  is  called  God  or  Providence. 
This  poetic  faith  has,  of  course,  nothing  whatever  to 
do  with  science. 

Undervaluation  of  one's  own  qualites,  however, 
and  enthusiasm  for  the  complementary  ones,  is  a 
familiar  psychological  fact.  The  poet  Tolstoi  wishes 
to  be  a  cut-and-dried  philosopher.  He  repudiates 
his  poetry,  and  likewise  speaks  coldly — indeed,  even 
with  hostility — of  the  spirits  akin  to  him,  of  Goethe 
and  Shakespeare.  There  is  only  one  opinion  among 
lovers  of  art,  and  that  is  that  Tolstoi,  in  the  natural 
spontaneity  of  his  characters  and  incidents,  is  to  be 
compared  with  these  two  alone,  and  in  the  abun- 
dance of  his  psychological  traits  with  Shakespeare 
only.  Yet  at  present  Tolstoi  is  engaged  in  writing 
a  book,  soon  to  appear,  against  Shakespeare  and  the 
study  of  Shakespeare.  In  our  conversation  he 
came  back  to  the  indefensible  over-estimation  of 
this  artist. 

"If  people  were  capable  of  approaching  Shake- 
speare impartially  they  would  lose  their  unreason- 
able reverence  for  this  writer.  He  is  crude,  im- 
moral, a  toady  to  the  great,  an  arrogant  despiser  of 

324 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

the  small,  a  slanderer  of  the  common  people.  He 
lacks  good  taste  in  his  jests,  is  unjust  in  his  sym- 
pathies, ignoble,  intoxicated  with  the  acquaintance 
with  which  a  few  aristocrats  honored  him.  Even 
his  art  is  over-estimated,  for  in  every  case  the  best 
comes  from  his  predecessors  or  his  sources.  But 
people  are  quite  blind.  They  are  under  the  spell  of 
the  concensus  of  opinion  handed  down  for  centuries. 
It  is  truly  incredible  what  ideas  can  be  awakened 
in  the  human  mind  by  consecutive  treatments  of 
one  and  the  same  theme." 

I  believe  that  one  will  not  go  astray  in  finding 
in  the  above-mentioned  book  against  Shakespeare 
a  prosecution  at  the  same  time  of  Tolstoi's  cam- 
paign against  the  esthetic  -  artistic  view  of  life  in 
general.  His  purpose  is  to  overthrow  one  of  the 
chief  idols  of  the  aesthetic  cult.  As  far  as  the  argu- 
ments on  the  moral  side  are  concerned,  he  will  cer- 
tainly have  a  following.  The  son  of  a  tavern-keeper, 
himself  an  actor,  Shakespeare  was  certainly  not  the 
ideal  of  a  gentleman.  Tolstoi  will,  however,  have 
difficulty  in  abolishing  wonder  at  the  artistic  power 
of  this  most  sumptuous  of  all  geniuses. 

Tolstoi  dealt  with  the  influence  of  general  opin- 
ion again  in  another  connection.  He  was  speak- 
ing of  the  mischief  that  the  newspapers  do  in  the 
world,  but  chose,  in  my  opinion,  a  very  inappro- 
priate example  of  this. 

"  During  the  Dreyfus  case,"  said  he,  "I  received 
at  least  a  thousand  letters  from  all  parts  of  the 

325 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

world  asking  me  to  express  an  opinion.  How  could 
I  have  responded  ?  Here  I  am  in  Russia ;  the  trans- 
action was  in  France.  It  was  absolutely  impos- 
sible to  get  a  correct  idea  of  the  proceedings,  for 
every  paper  reported  it  differently.  In  and  of  itself, 
what  was  the  thing  that  had  happened  ?  An  inno- 
cent officer  had  been  condemned.  That  was  an 
unimportant  occurrence.  There  were  much  greater 
crimes  committed  by  those  in  power.  But  the 
whole  world  took  the  alarm.  Everybody  had  an 
incontrovertible  conviction  as  to  the  guilt  or  the 
innocence  of  a  man  whom  nobody  knew,  and  whose 
judges  nobody  knew.  A  thing  like  that  is  an 
epidemic,  not  thinking." 

One  must  certainly  travel  a  very  strange  and 
lonely  road  to  fail  to  appreciate  that  in  this  very 
instance  the  press  accomplished  an  enormous  work 
in  arousing  mankind,  and  in  showing  them  the 
danger  threatening  from  the  Jesuits.  The  Dreyfus 
affair  belongs  to  world-history  as  an  epoch-making 
event.  Perhaps  the  deliverance  of  the  whole  white 
race  from  the  octopus-like  embrace  of  clericalism 
and  militarism  is  its  work.  And  Count  Tolstoi, 
who  regards  it  as  his  mission  to  fight  militarism, 
lives  through  the  chief  battle  and  does  not  suspect 
it!  One  certainly  ought  not  to  forget  that  he  is 
in  Russia,  where  the  incarceration  of  innocent  men  is 
an  every-day  affair,  and  that  the  Russian  papers  think 
they  fulfil  their  duty  to  an  allied  nation  by  treating 
the  matter  from  the  stand-point  of  Meline  and  Marcier. 

326 


1 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

Tolstoi's  antipathy  to  this  affair  does  not  come 
at  all  from  any  possible  anti-Semitic  feeling.  He 
does  not  love  the  mercantile  Jews,  who  have  not 
the  slightest  trace  of  Christian  spirit.  He  con- 
demns anti-Semitism,  however,  in  the  most  em- 
phatic way.  "Anti-Semitism,"  he  said,  "is  not  a 
misfortune  for  the  Jews,  for  he  who  suffers  wrong 
is  not  to  be  pitied,  but  he  who  does  wrong.  Anti- 
Semitism  demoralizes  society.  It  is  the  worst  evil 
of  our  time,  for  it  poisons  whole  generations.  It 
makes  them  bhnd  to  right  and  wrong,  and  kills  all 
moral  feeling.  It  changes  the  soul  into  a  place  of 
desolation  in  which  all  goodness  and  nobility  are 
swept  away." 

In  regard  to  other  matters,  Tolstoi  does  not  use 
strong  expressions .  He  parries  them  good  -humored- 
ly  but  decisively.  When  we  were  talking  of  the 
new  romanticists,  I  used  some  severe  language.  I 
explained  the  uproarious  applause  of  certain  gifted 
but  degenerate  and  perverse  artists  as  a  cynical 
attack  on  the  inborn  moral  sense,  and  said,  speaking 
from  my  own  experience,  that  I  had  yet  to  meet 
one  of  those  devotees  of  immorality  whom  I  had 
not  found  on  closer  acquaintance  to  be  morally  de- 
ficient. When,  however,  I  spoke  of  literary  sup- 
port of  vice,  the  count  raised  his  hand  to  stop  me, 
and  said: 

"  Let  us  be  gentle  in  our  judgment  of  our  fellow- 
men."     Then  he  added,  "Go  on." 

I  had,  however,  gained  command  of  myself  and 
327 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

begged  pardon  for  my  vehemence.  I  could  not  go 
on,  however,  for  what  had  been  on  my  tongue  was 
only  more  bitter  words. 

He  looked  at  me  kindly,  and  merely  said,  "  Thank 
you." 

It  is  self-evident  that  Tolstoi  did  not  mean  by 
this  to  express  sympathy  with  the  Diabolics  and 
other  eccentrics.  Moreover,  he  spoke  flatly  against 
art  for  art's  sake,  which  he  calls  tiresome  more 
than  anything  else.  "Agonized  productions  of  the 
search  for  originality,  welcomed  by  idleness,  and 
intended  for  the  applause  of  the  critics  of  so-called 
fine  taste."  He  shrugged  his  shoulders  over  the 
fact  that  a  monument  had  been  erected  to  Baude- 
laire. He  agreed  with  me,  however,  when  I  traced 
the  interest  in  exotic  suggestion  in  the  creative  arts, 
as  for  everything  eccentric  and  bizarre,  back  to  the 
tendency  towards  an  entirely  external  naturalism, 
which  would  completely  rule  out  from  art  the  per- 
sonality of  the  artist.  He  returned  again  to  his 
text. 

"Without  the  deepest  sympathy  and  complete 
identification  with  the  subject  no  work  of  art  can 
ever  be  produced." 

He  does  not  admit,  however,  that  this  identifica- 
tion with  the  subject  is  found  in  the  experiments 
of  these  latter-day  writers.  He  sees  in  them  only  a 
sudden  change  from  the  fashion  for  objectivity  to 
the  fashion  for  subjectivity.  When,  however,  I 
spoke  of  the  good-fortune  of  the  Russian  in  not 

328 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

being  obliged  to  take  part  in  all  these  fashions,  be- 
cause he  had  already  showed  in  his  deep-hearted 
realism  that  it  is  possible  to  be  true  to  reality,  and 
yet  be  full  of  warmth  and  meaning,  he  again  raised 
his  hand  to  stop  me,  and  blushed.  I  could  not  tell 
whether  it  was  from  modesty  or  whether  he  does 
not  wish  any  longer  to  hear  of  the  works  of  his 
"literary"  period.  I  believe,  however,  that  the 
noise  of  all  this  no  longer  reaches  his  ear.  When  I 
spoke  with  warm  enthusiasm  of  the  debt  we  all 
owe  him,  said  that  his  art  was  a  revelation  to  us, 
that  through  him  we  had  first  learned  what  poetic 
power  lies  in  the  simplest  and  deepest  fidelity  to 
nature,  he  stopped  me  in  his  gentle  way.  Only 
philanthropy  is  now  a  matter  of  any  importance 
for  him.  Everything  else  is  empty  trifling.  He 
said  to  me: 

"You  are  still  buried  deep  in  materialism.  You 
must  see  that  you  free  yourself  from  that." 

Nevertheless,  he  was  good  enough  to  recognize 
my  honest  purpose  of  seeking  the  truth,  even  though 
I  do  not  succeed  in  finding  it  in  all  points  as  he  be- 
lieves he  has  found  it. 

I  must  certainly  admit  that  in  the  late  hours  of 
the  night,  as  he  sat  opposite  me,  his  fine  head  lean- 
ing far  back  and  resting  on  one  hand,  his  glowing 
eyes  making  him  seem  as  it  were  transparent,  I  had 
great  difficulty  in  preserving  a  conventional  bearing. 
Here  was  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  all  times,  who 
had  risen  out  of  the  purely  human  and  had  be- 

329 


THE    LAND    OF    RIDDLES 

come  a  saint  upon  whom  rests  the  divine  light. 
The  kindness  and  tenderness  of  his  voice  and  the 
gentleness  of  his  words  are  indescribable.  He  has 
the  love  and  the  dauntless  courage  of  the  prophet 
and  the  apostle  without  their  passion  and  wrath. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  any  mortal  has  ever  had 
more  understanding  of  human  weakness  than  he. 
He  combats  only  institutions,  never  men.  And  yet 
no  other  man  has  had  such  influence  upon  our  con- 
sciences as  he,  most  compassionate  of  all  judges  in 
spite  of  the  pitiless  keenness  of  his  vision. 

It  was  midnight  when  the  count's  sleigh  took  us 
to  Kozlovka,  the  nearest  station  to  the  estate.  In 
leaving  I  could  not  conceal  the  extent  to  which  I 
was  moved.  When  I  think  of  the  final  moments, 
when  the  count  stood  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  and 
called  a  last  word  after  me,  while  I  turned  to  him 
to  say  good-bye  once  more  and  forever,  it  seems  to 
me  that  I  never  in  my  life  experienced  anything 
more  overwhelming.  I  carried  away  an  impression 
that  the  whole  hall  was  filled  with  the  light  of  his 
eyes.  Yet  it  was  only  a  prosaic  bit  of  advice  for 
our  return  trip  to  Moscow,  to  give  which  he  had 
hurried  after  us  after  the  adieus  in  his  study.  The 
Countess  Sasha,  however,  stood  in  the  starlight  by 
the  door,  lovely  as  a  goddess  of  hospitality.  It  was 
gratifying  to  know  that  the  saintly  old  man  was  in 
the  care  of  this  lovely  creature. 

Under  the  twinkling  stars  we  sped  at  a  brisk  trot 
past  black  forests  and  over  the  silent,  deep-buried 

330 


A    VISIT    TO    TOLSTOI 

fields.  Within  us  re-echoed  the  saying  of  Kant, 
"Two  things  there  are  that  always  fill  me  with 
reverent  awe:  the  starry  heavens  above  me  and 
the  moral  consciousness  within."  The  man  whose 
hand  I  had  just  grasped  embodies  the  moral  con- 
sciousness of  our  century. 


THE   END 


Ui 


AA    000  493  775 


